Rest and Relaxation
by Super Chocolate Bear
Summary: Green Lantern needs a break. Flash is happy to oblige. Unfortunately, so is his younger cousin Bart.
1. Mindful Colleagues

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

(A/N: Set between 'Shadow of the Hawk' and 'Chaos at the Earth's Core'. 'Flash and Substance' rocks.)

_**Rest and Relaxation**_

_**Chapter One: Mindful Colleagues**_

The stars really were beautiful. Even after all of his training from the Green Lantern Corp, John Stewart was still amazed by the simplistic beauty of them. He had travelled to exotic nebulas where the colours danced and swirled around each other with a beauty almost unmatched by anything he had ever seen before. And yet, the small twinkling lights on the black velvet sky still filled him with a sense of awe and excitement in his quieter moments. Quieter moments… that were becoming few and far between these days.

Perhaps it was because of his workload. Or maybe it was because he didn't get much sleep last night – the Justice League beds were notoriously lumpy and difficult to even lie on, let alone doze off. Or maybe, just maybe, it was because of a certain red haired Thanagarian woman who was supposed to be the future mother of his child. A red haired Thanagarian who was being stalked by a man who thought that they were reincarnated lovers.

The Green Lantern let out a frustrated sigh and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath in an effort to calm himself. Needless to say, it didn't work very well.

That was all the information he had been able to wheedle from Batman, who was being unsurprisingly cagey and abrasive on the subject. The Dark Knight spouted things like 'It's not my place to tell you' and 'Shayera should be the one to tell you.' Not only that, but he, the man who had the most notorious and downright horrific record when it came to romance, was giving _him _advice on who he should be with.

John chuckled at the thought.

_Batman. Giving **me** advice on relationships. Who does he think he's kidding? It's ridiculous._

But then John's mind drifted back to what he and the Dark Knight had discussed after Shayera left. How John met his son, Warhawk, who was the result of a union between himself and Shayera.

"_We're supposed to be together. It's our destiny."_

_Batman stood and left the room, only giving him a passing glance as he left. "If you truly believe that, then why are you still with Vixen?"_

But the fact that Batman had managed to avert that future only raised more confusion in John's mind. If he had prevented that future from occurring, then were John and Shayera meant to be together? Were they meant to have a son together? Was he denying that man existence by _not _going with Shayera? Bruce had later told him of an incident where Virgil had been pulled into the future, where he allegedly met a new, younger Batman, much like the one John had met… along with an older version of Virgil. But he wasn't sure if that meant that the future they had seen was sure thing or…

John grimaced and rubbed his eyes. He hated time travel. General Green Lantern Corp policy was that time travel was BAD. Simply… BAD. You don't do it, you avoid it as much as possible, and you hate it as much as your brain will allow, preventing you from falling into some kind of time paradox. It was a horrible thing, really. Was it him _not _doing anything that resulted in him and Shayera coming together and having a child? Or should he go downstairs now and take her in his arms?

He cocked an eyebrow at the second suggestion. That one didn't sound too bad, except for the one minor detail of Vixen. John truly cared for the supermodel superheroine; they certainly worked well together, both in an out of costume, and they just seemed to… click. But, as soon as Shayera came back, it threw the whole relationship into question. John began to wonder just what it was that he felt for Vixen.

Had he gotten together with Vixen simply to get over Shayera?

John scowled at the thought. He didn't want to be _that _guy. The guy who gets into a relationship with one woman to forget another. He hated people like that, and he had vowed never to do the same thing himself. And yet, here he was, setting himself up for a fall by continuing with Mari.

Or was he?

He truly didn't know.

A frustrated, guttural growl emerged from his throat, and he quickly turned on his heel to leave the rooftop of the Metro Tower. He needed some supernatural threat or disaster to divert his attention. Just… something to get his mind off the mess that was his personal life.

As he stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for the command center, John began to wonder when things began to get so complicated in his life. Of course, he already knew the answer to that. It just helped him to remind himself sometimes, to force himself to deal with the pain of the Thanagarian invasion. As soon as he had seen Shayera on that bridge, he had known.

He hadn't really dealt with it. He was still hurting, and he had no idea how to make it stop. Hell, he wasn't sure if he should or would be able to get rid of the feelings. Maybe he was just supposed to deal with them and move on. But for a reason that he was all too aware of, something stopped him from forgetting about Shayera.

The doors to the elevator opened with a hiss, drowning out the noise of John's heavy sigh. As the noise of the command center washed over him, he instantly felt a little better. The people in this room were counting on him for guidance. They looked to him as an example. He didn't have time to wallow in self pity at his own problems, and that was just the way he liked it.

He walked from the elevator to the command console, where Red Tornado was working the controls. Although he was usually assigned to the orbiting Watchtower (the more human oriented heroes being used in the Metro Tower), they were a little short handed at the moment, and so the crimson android had been teleported down to assist John in his duties as attending Leaguer. As he approached, the Green Lantern noticed something unusual:

His left foot was sticking slightly to the floor as he walked.

With a grumble, John stopped and lifted his leg to find a piece of gum attached to the bottom of his usually shining green boot. He tried to fight the urge to grind his teeth as he used his ring to remove the substance from his boot. Keeping the pink piece of gum in a small green bubble, he made his way over to Red Tornado.

"Tornado?"

The android did not look up from his avid button pressing. "Yes, Lantern?"

"What is this?" John asked in a faux nonchalant voice, mentally commanding the bubble upwards. The android stopped his work and looked over, his head moving forward slightly to more closely examine the substance.

"It appears to be gum."

Lantern cocked a raven eyebrow. "Is that right? Now, if I recall, there is a strict 'no eating' policy in the command center, isn't there?"

Tornado paused again. "I believe so."

"Then why was this piece of gum on my boot?"

"Perhaps it is yours. Or perhaps it is a substance that appears similar to gum. Or perhaps-"

John raised his left hand to halt the list before it got any further. "Tornado, trust me. This is chewing gum. And someone was eating it in the command center."

Red Tornado stood and blinked for a few seconds. "I… see. But what has that-?"

However, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 was already away on his hunt for whoever had been chewing gum in the command center under _his _watch Using year's worth of honed training and tracking skills, his luminescent eyes scanned the room slowly and thoroughly, taking in each and every detail as they saw it. The something caught his eye. A brief flash of yellow. He stepped forward cautiously, and saw that there was something behind one of the console chairs. Leaning to the right slightly, John quickly spotted the culprit.

John's lips twisted into a grimace, and he raised his head up high. "BOOSTER!" he bellowed, with enough volume that even Red Tornado jumped slightly. With a certain measure of satisfaction, John made out a messy shock of blond hair popping up and down from behind the chair. He slowly and silently made his way to the chair, stalking ever more forward and forward until…

Booster leapt from behind the chair, his hands up in surrender. "All right, all right! I was chewing gum! I'm sorry!"

His eyes thinning, John leaned forward threateningly. "You bet your ass you'll be sorry; next training session I'm going to-"

The Green Lantern's communicator beeped in his ear. He glared threateningly at the panicking blonde before him before turning slightly and pressing two fingers to the earpiece.

"Yeah?"

Batman's voice came in over the quietly crackling frequency. _"I need to see you."_

"I'm bus-"

"_**Now**."_

Letting out a low growl that travelled from his chest to his throat, John turned to find Batman stood across the room, staring right at him. He whirled on his heel to look at Booster. The young hero was currently finding something particularly fascinating about his boots, waggling his feet back and forth like a troublesome schoolboy. Lantern snapped his fingers in front of his face to get his attention. Using his ring and years of experience playing basketball, he tossed the piece of gum into a trash dispenser on the other side of the room.

"I see you eating in here again… and there'll be trouble." Remaining silent for a moment, he stared at Booster for a few seconds.

"Understood?"

"Yes sir Green Lantern sir. Absolutely, sir."

With one last nod and a cautioning glance over his shoulder, John headed over to Batman. The other Leaguers and staff members in the room dared to hazard glances in his direction, which only irked his mood more.

_What the hell are they staring at? _

His irritated gaze came up to meet Batman's, whose expression, as usual, was completely unreadable. John didn't know anyone who could tell Batman's mood just from looking at him, or even talking to him. It took him a few years to realise that his left eye twitched slightly when he was embarrassed, and that was only thanks to Diana's tutelage. Although, right now, the Green Lantern didn't particularly care what the Dark Knight's mood was. He only knew that he was pissed off and Batman was being his usual 'I'm in charge' self.

After what seemed an eternity of stomping over to him, John came to a quick halt in front of Batman, the floor echoing slightly under the heavy ministrations of his boot.

"What?" he said quickly, wanting this lecture over with so he could get back to his day or not thinking about his problems. Hell, he could feel his mind wandering over to Hawk related areas already. He hoped that Batman had something interesting to say, or his mind was going into territories that he really didn't want it to.

"I think we need to go for a walk."

John didn't budge. "I'm on duty."

Bruce didn't budge. "Red Tornado will handle it."

"I wouldn't want to leave him to handle things by himself."

"He seems to be doing fine by himself."

"He's not used to it."

"He'll _get _used to it."

"I'm not going."

"You're going."

The Green Lantern and the Batman stood opposite one another, each not willing to give the other an inch. John didn't care how stubborn Batman was; he was _not _going to win this. He knew what Batman wanted to talk about. He knew that Batman would want to talk about Shayera and Carter Hall, and about Vixen, and about Warhawk, his son…

John faltered slightly.

_My son… **my **son._

He sighed and his shoulders sagged slightly. "Fine."

Although his only response was a terse nod before he turned away, John _knew _that the Dark Knight was going to smirk. He had only seen Batman smile on very rare occasions, usually in moments of great relief or victory. But smirking? _That _was different. He had seen Batman smirk many, _many _times. But there was only _one _instance that stuck out in his mind.

"_I'm with Vixen."_

_Batman remained silent. John smiled._

"_I'm very happy."_

_The Dark Knight picked up his drink and smirked. "Uh huh."_

_Batman took a sip of his drink, and John wanted to punch his lights out._

Instead, he had simply brought up Diana, who he had seen approaching. John still found that funny. Any opportunity to see the great and mysterious Batman acting like a human being beneath that cowl was a worthwhile one as far as he was concerned. He looked over at the Dark Knight walking beside him.

"So? What are going to talk about?"

Batman stopped at a door and punched in a code. Following the Cadmus incident, each door was assigned a separate security code, with help from the members of the dissolved government group. Although it was a required security caution, it still irked some of the League members who _couldn't _remember fifty different codes. It irritated some of them to the point that they stopped frequenting both the Metro Tower and the Watchtower as much. But John didn't mind the space – at least at first. Then he realised that it gave him room to think, and, well, thinking was a bad thing for John Stewart.

The Dark Knight gestured for John to enter, and as he did, the Green Lantern looked around the room, taking in his surroundings as quickly as possible. It wasn't that he mistrusted Batman's intentions; if there was one thing he could count on from the Dark Knight, it was loyalty. It was simply instinct, both from his time with the military and the Lantern Corp, it was natural for him to take in as much detail as possible about ones surroundings.

Just in case.

They were in the stairwell of the Metro Tower. What with the elevators being as fast as they were, nobody really used the stairwell for transportation around the Tower, only emergency evacuation. Batman followed him in and shut the door behind him without looking back. John wondered with some amusement as to whether Batman's cape had ever become trapped in a door from doing that. He gave a small smile.

"What happened to our walk?" he said ironically. The comment prompted no response from the Dark Knight. Not that John expected it would. He simply stared at him from behind the white ovals he had for eyes.

John sighed in frustration, crossing his arms. "Is there a problem?"

"Do _you _think there's a problem?"

John shrugged. "No. I think everything's perfectly fine."

"_Do _you? Is that why you exploded at Booster Gold for no reason?"

"It wasn't for no reason," John said, his arms uncrossing as he defended himself. An eyebrow cocked beneath the Dark Knight's cowl.

"Is that right?"

John nodded.

"Run me through them."

John's eyebrow rose. "What?"

"Your reasons. I'd like to hear them."

The Green Lantern sighed, his shoulders drooping slightly. "All right," he sighed, his voice going slightly higher as did so. "I found some gum on the floor-"

Batman raised a hand and cocked an eyebrow. "Gum?"

"Yes, gum." His eyes thinned suspiciously. "Why?"

The Dark Knight seemed about to say something, but then thought better of it. He shook his head in a 'never mind' gesture.

"Go on."

John let out a frustrated breath through his nose before going on with his story. "I found out that Booster was the one that was chewing the gum, and-"

"I saw the rest."

"Then why are we here!" John exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air. The Dark Knight didn't even flinch at the explosion of emotion, simply cocking an eyebrow beneath his cowl and remaining silent.

After a few moments, he decided to respond. "Why do you think we're here?"

"I don't know! Maybe you think I'm too stressed out about Shayera and her stalker boyfriend! Maybe you think that I'm not doing my job as well as I should! Maybe you think I over-reacted with Booster because of all the things going on in my head-"

John stopped himself as his eyes widened in astonishment. He couldn't even say anything as Batman turned and left the empty stairwell, not once turning back. John stared at the closed door, his eyes slowly thinning as he imagined Batman's face.

The Dark Knight was most definitely smirking right now.

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John was a steak kind of guy. He loved steak, regardless of how it was cooked, and could eat an almost unlimited amount of it. And Mari cooked a good steak. Well, she didn't, but John told her she did, and dutifully ate her steaks with gusto whenever they were put in front of him. However, now was not one of those times, and John couldn't help but be relieved. After the stress powerhouse of a day he had just had, he couldn't face eating a steak so tough it could fight Superman and win.

They were in a particularly classy restaurant on the far side of Coast City, John's old stomping grounds. Although admittedly, he had seen little of this kind of lifestyle when growing up; these kinds of places were only rumours to him and his friends. John sipped at his wine and cut off another piece of the slab of meat in front of him. When they had first started dating, Mari had objected to him buying such a mundane meal in such a classy restaurant, but eventually decided to let him have his small victory.

And John knew it was a small one. He had won little of their other battles – he now dressed as she wanted, talked with the people she wanted, and lived with the décor she wanted. He sighed inwardly as he gulped down his piece of steak.

Mari, having ordered some kind of exotic fish, looked up to see his furrowed brow. He had just finished telling her about the 'Booster Gold/chewing gum/Batman' incident, and she hadn't yet responded.

"So… You're going to take some time off?"

John frowned. "What? I didn't say that."

"But Batman told you to take a break," she replied nonchalantly, reaching down slowly and taking a sip of her wine.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to do it," John quietly replied, viciously skewering the meat on his plate. He had found a particularly tough spot, and he was damned well not going to let some piece of dead animal stop him now.

Feeling Mari's gaze on his head, he stopped his frustrated slicing for the moment and sighed, bringing his head up to meet her luscious brown eyes.

"And besides, he didn't _tell _me to take a break."

"Then what _did _he tell you?"

Mumbling something unintelligible, John resumed cutting away at his steak.

"John."

"Mmm," he hummed neutrally, trying his best to ignore her. Finally, the piece of steak was severed from the rest. With some measure of satisfaction, he brought the steak up…

And then saw the look on Mari's face. He sighed, letting his head hang down as he put his fork back on the plate.

"Fine… he didn't _tell _me in so many words."

"Then what did he do?"

"He just asked me questions."

Mari smiled, quite amused by this little admission. "You mean like a shrink?"

Lantern smiled ironically. "Pretty much." He cast his suspicious gaze up at his girlfriend. "Why?"

Sitting back in her chair, she couldn't help but let out a small smile as she raised her hand defensively. "Nothing. I just think that it's a good idea."

"Think what's a good idea?" he said grumpily, shoving the piece of steak into his mouth roughly, chewing it with far more effort than was needed.

"You taking a break. You _do _seem more stressed out, especially after the whole 'Shayera thing'."

John's eyes bulged in surprise, the piece of steak becoming lodged in his throat. After pounding his chest with his fist and a swig of wine, he managed to get it down.

"What-" he coughed before continuing, "-what 'Shayera thing'?"

Vixen rolled her eyes, that smile still on her face.

_Why is everyone smirking at me today?_

"You know, Shayera meeting this new gorgeous archaeologist and becoming quite close and friendly with him…" she said simply, before looking him directly in the eyes. "…you know…that 'Shayera thing'."

The Green Lantern shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Oh… _that '_Shayera thing'." He eyed her cautiously. "Wait. Did you say 'gorgeous archaeologist'?"

A smirk rolled across her lips, her eyes intent on teasing him. "Oh yeah. Just because I'm in a relationship doesn't mean I'm blind. He was like a mix of Sean Connery and Harrison Ford." She winked at him as she released her foot from her shoe and slid it up his leg enticingly.

Refusing to be pulled into jealousy, John just smiled, cocking an eyebrow. "Sean Connery and Harrison Ford, huh?" He leaned closer forward, resting on his arms. "So what does that make me?"

Mari leaned closer, her voice becoming quieter as she did so. "I'd say you were… Samuel L Jackson and Wesley Snipes."

John considered this for a moment. "Well, one of them has played Shaft, so I guess I should be grateful."

"You're damn right."

John laughed, and there was a comfortable silence between the two as they simply sat, gazing into each others eyes.

"So… are you going to take the time off?"

John frowned and leaned back, crossing his arms in front of him. "I don't need it."

"Oh, right. So Batman pulls you aside for over-reacting every day, huh?"

"I wasn't over-reacting."

She cocked an eyebrow at him. Just… cocked an eyebrow and stared at him. All of his previous training with the Marines and the Lantern Corp simply went out the window, and his head sagged as he relented.

"All right, fine. What do you want to do?"

She smiled and shrugged. "Sorry, boo. I'm away next week on a shoot, remember?" Her features changed, and she leaned forward. "Besides, you wouldn't want to be one of those couples who do _everything _together, would you?"

John cut off a piece of steak and thrust it into his mouth, grateful that it hadn't gone cold during the discussion. After he swallowed, he took a sip of his wine and considered the woman sitting opposite him.

"So what would you suggest I do?"

The supermodel heroine threw her gaze upwards, exasperated. "God, John, I don't know. Don't you have a life outside of me and the League?"

Slowly looking back at his steak, John fiddled absentmindedly with his plate. "Well, I…uh…"

"Come on. Don't you have any guy friends you hang out with? Or _used _to?"

John thought back. Back to before the League expanded. "Well… there was one guy…"

Vixen cocked a jet black eyebrow. "What did you use to do?"

"I don't know…" Lantern replied, shrugging. "We drank beers, ate pizza, watched movies…"

"Not '_Old Yeller'_…" Mari muttered, putting her hand over her eyes.

John scowled at his name being mentioned in such a negative light. "No, not '_Old Yeller_'."

"Wait, wait, wait… And this guy got you to relax?"

He cast his gaze upwards, thinking back. All he could offer in response was a shrug. "Sort of. He could always get my mind of my troubles, anyway."

Vixen's smile vanished, replaced with a blank stare. She blinked a few times. "Wow."

"What?"

"Well, you're not exactly the most relaxed person in the world. The only way I can get you to relax…" her eyes took on a more predatory look. "…well, I doubt he got you to relax _that _way."

He laughed lightly as he cut another piece of his steak away. "Ah… no, he didn't."

"So why don't you spend some time off with him?"

John paused in mid slice, his eyes glazing over slightly as he thought about the possibility. "Well… I suppose…"

Vixen sat back in her chair, crossing her legs and arms in a relaxed pose. "Well, whoever he is, I'd sure like to meet him. Anyone who can get you to relax must be some sort of genius."

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"Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting!"

Wally West leapt from his bedroom landing with a thud in the main living room of his small apartment. He shot his fist out in time with the music.

"Huh!" he grunted, a huge grin spread across his face.

"Those kicks were fast as lightning!" he sang, twisting on his heel to deliver a karate kick to the sofa behind him.

"Hah!"

The grin still plastered on his face, Wally moon-walked across the room.

"In fact it was a little bit fri-"

A knock at the door interrupted his impromptu dance session. It was most likely one of the neighbours complaining about the noise. He had many complaints from the tenants, but somehow he always managed to avoid them. Wally figured it was just because of his charming smile and personality. Or maybe it was because he cleaned his landlords' car faster than anyone else. He could still manage a chuckle at the memory of the look on his face when he had shown his landlord his freshly cleaned car.

The landlord in question, Mr Philips, had driven his car in some particularly thick mud, and with a smirk and a cocky laugh, displayed the car to Wally in all her glory. He had just volunteered to wash his car for him, and he instantly had a good feeling about the arrangement. Needless to say, Mr Philips returned in about half an hour to find his car clean and sparkling with a double coating of wax.

Ever since, Wally had been safe. Of course, that wasn't to say that he could do whatever he wanted, oh no. There were simply too many nagging tenants for the landlord to ignore his antics completely. But what would have before been a nasty threat simply became a stern warning.

And Wally knew how to deal with stern warnings, be they from irate landlords or scowling Batmen. Thinking about the Dark Knight brought a smile to Wally's face, as it just occurred to him that he was on leave at the moment, and he loved the feeling. It allowed him to sleep late into the afternoon and have a pyjama dance to such great hits as 'Kung Fu Fighting'.

Wally sighed and zipped over to the stereo to turn it off, then over to the door. Opening it with a steady grin on his face, he was surprised by who was stood there.

"John?"

The Green Lantern stood in the doorway, dressed quite snazzily in clothes that Mari had bought him (or at least _told _him to buy) with a small smile on his face. "Hey."

"Uh…" Wally's face was still slightly wide with astonishment, his grin long since gone. With a quick shake of his head, the grin was back, and he was stepping aside, gesturing to his apartment. "Come in, come in."

John made his way in, hefting a medium sized sports bag with him. Swinging it mightily on to the sofa, it sent a small cloud of dust from the miniature seating arrangement, prompting a cocked eyebrow from John.

"When was the last time you cleaned this place?"

"Yesterday."

Lantern gave him 'the look'.

Wally brought his hands up defensively. "I did, I swear!"

After lingering on the speedster with 'the look' for a few more seconds, he turned away. "Right."

Slowly making his way around the room, John tried to remember what the room was like the last time he was here. The TV had been moved, as had the sofa, but everything else seemed pretty much the same. John frowned as he remembered the last time he was here. It was just after the Thanagarian invasion, and the two had shared a quiet drink. It was probably the last time they hung out together before the new League was put into action and business got in the way.

"So, uh… you're pretty early. I wasn't expecting you until two in the afternoon."

John looked over at his red headed friend, once again giving him 'the look'.

"Wally, I'm about an hour late. Last minute League business held me up. I called you, but you didn't pick up." His eyes thinned. "What time did you wake up?"

Looking quite sheepish, the speedster looked down. "About… five minutes ago…" he mumbled. Suddenly, his pale blue eyes widened, and he brought them up.

"Wait… did you say an hour late?"

John nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

"Uh oh. I was going to tell you when you got here, but-"

Another knock came at the door, and this time, Wally knew who it was. John looked first at the door, then Wally.

"Who's that?"

A pained look crossed Wally's face. "Well… I mighta… sorta made plans before I knew you were coming here."

The sigh that escaped John's lips made his head sink. "What kind of plans…?"

The Flash made his way over to the door. "Well…"

Opening the door, he revealed a young boy stood in the doorway, with a thick shock of messy brown hair and what seemed to be a permanent 'I've got an attitude problem' face. John closed his eyes, half to hide his green eyes, and half in exasperation.

_How did I **know **something like this was going to happen?_

"Uh, John… this is my cousin, Bart. He's gonna be staying here for a few days."

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(A/N: OK. Here's the deal. I looked over my 'Legacies' story, and thought that it wasn't a good way to introduce Kid Flash. So, here's another version that I like much better. How is this version different? Well, you'll just have to wait and see.

But don't worry, you GL fans; this will mostly remain about John, with bits and pieces of Wally and Bart thrown in.

And to any 'Scrubs' fans out there, that 'Kung Fu Fighting' moment was _totally _ripped from the second season episode 'His Story'.

Anyhow, reviews are good.)


	2. Shooting the Breeze

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Rest and Relaxation**_

_**Chapter Two: Shooting the Breeze**_

John looked over the room at the shock of unruly brown hair sat at the couch. Bart flicked through the channels so quickly, John wondered if the teenager could even see was on. At least when Wally did it, it made sense; the red headed speedster could read an entire magazine while making it seem like he was just casually flicking through it. The Green Lantern had always wondered how exactly Wally wasn't some kind of genius by now, at the rate he took in information.

As he sat in the kitchen area, he hoped that Bart wouldn't start talking to him again as he had when he arrived the day previous. Although he didn't have a huge problem with kids, it wasn't something he particularly enjoyed; ironically, his young immaturity was one of the things that had ticked him off most about hanging around with Wally. Something else that bothered him was that Bart was unaware that his older cousin was the Flash, and so John's presence at Wally's apartment would be questioned if Bart recognised him. It was times like those that John wished he had bothered with the whole secret identity thing like Kyle Rayner had told him.

Thankfully, Bart wasn't such a big fan of the Green Lantern; he was more of a Batman fan, which, much to John's amusement, annoyed Wally to no end. The scarlet speedster would constantly drop hints to Bart about how cool the Flash was, and that Bart might see him during his stay. But Bart held steadfast and merely said that he would rather go to Gotham and see Batman. John had unfortunately been eating some Doritos at the time, and his sudden burst of laughter had almost resulted in Wally giving him a superspeed Heimlich manoeuvre.

But in the end, it hadn't been too bad. Sure, it hadn't been the relaxing trip he was expecting (at least so far), but Bart was nowhere near as bad as John guessed Wally was at his age. John frowned. Exactly what kind of relaxing time was he expecting at _Wally's _place, of all people? If anything, his stay was pretty much guaranteed to cause him _more _stress than League work. But even he had to admit that he hadn't thought about anything Hawk related for his entire stay. He looked over at Bart again, and sighed.

_Suppose I'd better say **something**._

"So, Bart," John began, hoping to break the relative silence between them. "What brings you to Central City?"

Bart shrugged. "My parents are away from home for a few days, so they sent me here."

"And where's home?"

"Keystone."

John nodded. "Right, right…"

Bart turned on the sofa to face John. "So, how do you know Wally?"

"I'm a… friend."

"Oh, a friend, huh? Is that like, code for gay partner?"

John scowled. "No."

Bart smirked. "You sure?"

"Yes."

"So you're not gay?"

"No."

Bart looked at him for a few seconds more before his smirk deepened and he turned back to the TV.

"Right."

John glowered at the back of the teen's head. Obviously, they were going to get along well.

The door to the apartment swung open, and Wally stepped through with several paper bags full of groceries strategically placed around his upper body. At least, John assumed it was Wally; his face was blocked by a paper bag that seemed to be full of various snacks and candy.

"A little help here," Wally's voice whimpered through the bags. The slightly muffled voice almost made John laugh by itself. He made his way over and helped the speedster unload the groceries into the kitchen. As Wally put some canned goods in an overhead cupboard, he turned slightly to see Bart out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey, Bart?"

The only reply was an affirmative grunt.

"I was thinking I'd show you where your dad used to work today. You interested?"

The same grunt came in reply. Wally grinned and moved over to the fridge with another bag.

"Great."

John looked over at the speedster sceptically. All he could see was the back of his head as Wally unloaded the various yoghurts and desserts into the fridge.

"Where his dad used to work?"

Wally nodded, his red hair shaking slightly with his head. "Yeah – Central City Police Department. He was a police scientist," he elaborated, standing up to face the Green Lantern, closing the fridge door with his behind.

Shaking his head, John closed his eyes and covered them with his hand. Wally lifted his hands defensively.

"What? It's a patented fridge-door-closing technique." Ignoring John's sceptical look, he turned once again to Bart. "Hey Bart. We'll have some lunch first then go over there, okay?"

Once again, Bart's only response was a monosyllabic grunt. Nodding in approval, Wally looked over at John and gave him a wink before turning to get lunch ready.

"So, are you going to come too?" Wally asked, completely focused on his work of making some abomination of a sandwich.

"Do I have a choice?"

The speedster paused to consider this for a moment. "Nah. But hey," he said, snapping his fingers and pointing them at John, "I'll show you guys where _I_ work too."

John cocked an eyebrow. "_You're_ a police scientist?"

Wally let out a snort of laughter. "Yeah, right." He continued to laugh as he wiped a tear from his eye. "Police scientist…" he said, shaking his head.

"Then what?"

"I'm a mechanic for the Central City PD. Although I'm hoping to work my way up to lab assistant. I've been given some good word by Uncle Barry, but I guess that only goes so far."

"Uncle Barry? Is that the guy whose lab we're going to?"

Wally nodded as he finished up one sandwich and moved on to another. John could see the frustration on his face as he went deliberately slowly for Bart's sake. If it were just Leaguers here, Wally would have been done quite a while ago.

"It's the place where-" Wally stopped himself, glancing over at Bart, "-where my life sped up," he said, nodding slowly at John suggestively.

John nodded. "So I'm guessing Barry helped you out a lot after that?"

"Oh, yeah. He taught me how to use… uh, my skills," he said, nodding with satisfaction at the cover story.

Finished with the second sandwich, he moved on to the third. John looked down at the pitiful display before him, Wally having a pained look on face from moving his hands so slowly. Shaking his head, John came forward.

"Oh, for- let me do that."

An offended look crossed the speedster's face. "I can do it."

"Yeah, in a few years time."

"Look, I can do it, all right?"

"I'm just saying that you seem to be having trouble."

"Well I'm not."

"Yes, you are. Look at that. The bread is supposed to have some kind of shape after you've cut it."

"That's… artistic preference."

"Artistic-? Wally, it's a sandwich, not art!"

"Potato, Potahto... doesn't matter, it's fine."

"It's not fine; I want my sandwich square, dammit!"

"Oh, hang on; just let me get my military issue sandwich shaper. Oh… that's right; I don't have one! Just chill out. Geez, I don't know how Vixen-" Wally stopped himself short before he said something that would not only cause a nasty response from John, but also help Bart figure out that Wally's good buddy was also the Green Lantern. Panicking, he tried his best to cover.

"Uh… those… Vixen-like women you hang around with… uh… deal with you... yeah."

Bart, now looking at the bickering pair over his shoulder from the couch, merely shot them a suspicious look before turning back to the TV. Wally breathed a sigh of relief and got back to his sandwich making, sticking his tongue out in concentration. A quick glance at John revealed a very ticked John Stewart glaring at him with his arms crossed.

Wally just ignored him. A heavy hand slammed onto the counter top, and the speedster looked up at him innocently.

"I… am making… the sandwich," John growled.

There was a silence between the two as they stared at one another, John glaring at him while Wally tried his best puppy dog look.

The Fastest Man Alive never stood a chance. Standing up to his full height with a nervous smile on his face, Wally gestured to the counter.

"Y'know what? I think _you _should make the sandwich."

A few minutes later, and the three were sat around the counter eating lunch, with, John observed with a satisfied smile, perfectly square sandwiches. John briefly wondered how Wally could eat three meals a day off a kitchen counter, but was quickly reminded that his speedster friend ate most of his daily intake constantly throughout the day. He remembered that that was what annoyed him most about the speedster when the League consisted of a mere seven members; the constant chipping away at supplies. It made it _seem _like Wally wasn't in fact eating much at all, but slowly and surely over the course of the day, there would be less and less food until the fridge was empty.

He _also _remembered Flash's good natured grin when John had yelled at him not to eat so much.

"_Sure thing, GL," _he had said.

A day later, the food had disappeared. Shaking his head free of such fond, _fond_ memories, John brought his attention back to the present.

"So," Bart asked between bites, "what are you two lovebirds planning to do when I'm gone?"

Wally scowled and turned towards John. "What have you been telling him?" he whispered fiercely.

"Nothing," John replied, shooting a glare at the smirking Bart.

"How come you care so much Wally?" Bart asked, his mouth full of sandwich.

Wally's eye twitched. "I'm not. I'm just… curious."

"Oh, so you're bi, huh?"

John hid his smirk behind his sandwich as Wally's jaw dropped.

"No I'm not bi! Who told you that?"

"Why? Is it true?"

"No!" he yelled, his voice raising a defensive octave. He smirked. "How come you're so interested, Bart?"

Not missing a trick, Bart just shrugged, swallowing his mouthful of sandwich. "Just thought I'd keep mom and dad updated. They're getting worried about you, you know."

John laughed out loud, and Wally shot him a 'look' before turning to Bart angrily. "They what?"

"Oh yeah. They said you haven't been out with a girl for so long, they're thinking of ordering one of those Thai brides for you."

His face darkening considerably, Wally's voice lowered to a deep growl as he snatched away Bart's sandwich. "No sandwich for you."

Bart shrugged. "Fine. Whoever cut that sandwich must have been mentally deficient or something."

John's smile disappeared and Wally's returned in full force.

"Those were perfectly shaped sandwiches."

Wally nodded. "Oh yeah. He even has an army issue sandwich shaper."

Bart looked over at Wally with a smirk. "Oh, so you like a man in uniform, huh?"

The Fastest Man Alive scowled and snatched Bart's iPod from his baggy pants pocket.

"Hey!"

"You wanna play? Fine. You don't get your music thingy," Wally said, a triumphant grin on his face as he put it in his own pocket. Bart turned away with his arm crossed.

"Just because you're in denial…" he mumbled, and John couldn't help but smile.

He was beginning to like this kid.

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Bart looked over the lab with an unimpressed look on his face. In fact, John couldn't remember if he'd seen Bart with anything _other_ than an unimpressedlook on his face. When he was watching the TV it was with mild interest, the same with eating lunch. The walk through the city to the Central City Police Station hadn't elicited anything from the teen except a few grunts and glances. John was beginning to think that he wasn't related to Wally at all.

Said speedster, meanwhile, was pointing out different parts of the lab to Bart, in the hope that _something _would interest him. Needless to say, he wasn't having much luck.

"…And that used to be your dad's desk."

Bart nodded, his eyes half closed. "Right. Whose desk is it now?" he asked, adding sarcastic interest to his tone.

Wally didn't notice. "Uh… don't know. But I could find out."

Bart waved a dismissive hand. "Nah, that's okay. I want to save _some_ excitement for the rest of my stay."

Wally noticed _that _sarcasm.

"Hey, it was _your_ dad's idea to show you this place."

"Yeah, and I thought it was boring."

"Is that right? I'll have you know I found this place amazing when I was a kid!"

"Well that just says a lot about your taste in entertainment, doesn't it?" Bart said dismissively, turning away before Wally could get another word in.

John shook his head with a chuckle, and looked around the lab himself. It wasn't a busy day at the moment, but that could change at any moment with these places, at least according to Wally's Uncle Barry. John stifled a yawn as he looked at the different jars of chemicals and blank computer screens. He was brought from his half-asleep stupor when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning, he saw the grinning face of Wally West.

"Hey," he said, looking excited, "lemme show you something."

John cocked an eyebrow, feeling instantly wary. "Do I want to see this? I mean, do I _really _want to see this?"

The speedster rolled his eyes. "It's nothing weird, trust me."

"You're sure?"

"_Yes, I'm sure_. I'm a bit wierded out by what you're implying, but still…"

"I'm not implying anything."

"Sure sounds like it to me."

"Well I'm not."

"Good. Come on then."

"Okay then."

"Good."

"Good." John paused. "What did you think I was implying?"

Wally let out a cry of exasperation. "John, please, just leave it alone! Come on, I really wanna show you this!"

Wally walked over to a window on the other side of the relatively small room, excitedly gesturing for John to join him. Sighing, the Green Lantern made his way over to the anxious Wally. As he crossed the room, he noticed Bart looking at a computer with vague interest, but not enough to warrant an emotion change.

"What is it?" John asked as he reached the grinning Flash.

"Guess where we're standing."

"Um… the police lab?"

Wally rolled his eyes with a groan. "No… come on, think about it. What _great thing_ happened here… that impacted someone you know… that made them… quicker…" he said, adding on clue after clue as John's expression remained blank.

Finally, the Green Lantern nodded. "Oh, so this is where you-"

The red headed speedster nodded excitedly in response, grinning from ear to ear. John cocked his head to the side slightly, noting the dark clouds approaching them from the outside.

"We better head back soon. Looks like it's going to rain," he said, nodding at the window. Wally turned to look at the approaching weather, and then waved his hand dismissively.

"Pffft… we'll be fine."

John just shook his head. Looking around the room, he saw that Bart was still wandering aimlessly.

"So…" he began, turning to face the speedster. "How'd it happen?"

The Fastest Man Alive grinned. "Thought you'd never ask. Well, Uncle Barry brought me up here to show me where he worked, right, and-" he looked to his left and frowned. "Wait, there's supposed to be… ah," he said, spotting something in the distance.

Running at an average human pace, Wally went to the other side of the room and wheeled over some shelving that was packed to the brim with different jars and test tubes of chemicals. Wally pushed them to the side of the window, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Those chemicals were like, _right there, _and then this lightning bolt came through the window-"

"What're you guys talking about?"

The two turned in surprise to see Bart stood next to them, listening intently to Wally's story. The speedster smiled nervously.

"Uh… I was just… uh…"

Bart pushed past them to look at the different chemicals. Wally held out a cautionary hand.

"Uh, Bart… I wouldn't…"

Bart turned to look at him sceptically. "What? It's not like light-"

Suddenly, a flash of light blinded everyone in the room, and John had to fight the instinct to use his ring to protect himself. He heard a loud crash and a thud.

"Bart!" Wally's voice said, shooting through the blinding light.

Slowly, John's emerald eyes adapted to the white light that had consumed them, and the room came back into focus. As it did, he saw Bart on the floor, covered in shattered glass and multi coloured chemicals. The wind howled through the broken window, the blinds melted beyond recognition. Wally was knelt beside the unconscious boy, checking his vital signs before whizzing out of the room.

A second later, he was back in full Flash costume. John followed suit and used his ring to create the standard Green Lantern Corp uniform around him, before nodding at the speedster next to him. Wally quickly and delicately picked up Bart and shot out of the room, with John in hot pursuit.

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John had seen Wally do many things. He had seen him run up a wall. He had seen him eat five times his body weight in food. But he had never seen him wait. It was a curious thing to observe, and if Bart's condition wasn't still in question, John would have probably been more interested. As it was, he was feeling just as nervous as Wally. The speedster had left and changed back into his civilian clothes once they had dropped off Bart, although John had opted to remain in his Green Lantern uniform. He didn't see much point in continuing the pretence, as long as Bart didn't see.

Wally had a very strange way of waiting. Instead of pacing at super speed, which John half expected to be his reaction, Wally stood almost perfectly still, though a more thorough look at him revealed he was actually vibrating from side to side ever so slightly. John put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and Wally seemed to calm down, at least a little.

"Is this what happened when…?" John asked, cocking a suggestive eyebrow at the nervous speedster.

Wally shrugged slightly. "Kinda. I don't really remember half of it. I remember there being a bright light and then having this seriously weird dream… and then I was awake in a hospital bed, watching the clock tick by _really _slowly."

"Will you know if it's the same thing?"

"I don't know. It took Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris a few days to realise what had happened to me, but… I think I should be able to spot it if it is… that thing."

John looked over at the double doors leading to the corridor. "And… if it is? What then?"

The Fastest Man Alive let out the slowest sigh in the world before responding. "I don't know. If it's the same, I don't think there'll be any way we can stop him from… following in my footsteps."

John nodded as a Doctor emerged through the two-way doors, leaving them flapping behind him. He looked up at Wally from his clipboard as he approached.

"How is he?" Wally asked, his face wrought with a concern that John hadn't seen in him before.

"Well… you're lucky the Flash and Green Lantern," he said, nodding at John, "got him here as fast as they did; his heart had stopped. But, thanks to his quick delivery here, we were able to save him."

The speedster let out a sigh of relief, his entire body looking as though it were a deflating balloon. He looked over at John with a grateful smile, and the Green Lantern resisted the urge to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Enough people would question why Green Lantern was in Central City at the right time in the first place without him being chummy with Wally West in public.

"Is he awake?" Wally asked.

The Doctor's brow creased as he looked down at the chart he held. "Yes… that's the strange thing. He seems to have recovered perfectly. According to these tests… he's perfectly healthy. No signs of shock… nothing."

Wally shot a sideways glance towards John, a slight frown on his face. "So… can I see him?"

The Doctor took a breath. "I don't see why not," he said, shrugging. "But try to keep it short."

Giving a quick nod, Wally showed remarkable patience as the Doctor slowly led them to Bart's room. John resolved to stay outside; the last thing he needed was Bart recognising him and getting wise to the whole thing. Wally needed to ease him into it. Putting his hand to his earpiece, he called the Watchtower. If what he believed about Bart's current condition was true, then they would need to run some tests.

Wally, meanwhile, was having flashbacks to his own experience in this hospital. It felt like just yesterday he was here after being struck by lightning himself. As soon as the Doctor had told them that Bart had recovered so quickly, Wally had just known. He knew that Bart had been given the same abilities that Wally himself had been given all those years ago. Truth be told, this was the first time he had been to the hospital since that incident – his accelerated metabolism usually healed any injuries before they became serious enough to warrant treatment in a hospital.

The Doctor gently opened the door and gestured for Wally to enter, putting his finger to his lips to emphasise his earlier point. Wally nodded and entered the room. After the door closed behind him, all Wally could think about was how scared he had felt when _he _was lying on that bed those years ago. His Uncle Barry had helped him through it in more ways than even he knew. Wally only hoped he could be there for Bart in the same way.

As he walked into the room, he thought about the different ways he could tell him the news.

"_Hey Bart! Guess what? I'm the Flash, and you might have super powers! Have fun!"_

"_Uh… Bart. You may not know this but… you've been **punk'd**! Nah, just kidding. You're actually a super powered teenager now! Ain't that great?"_

"_Bart... I'm the Flash, and you have super speed. But you can't be my sidekick. No way. At all. Well, okay, if you want to."_

Shaking his head, he took a seat next to the bed and Bart looked over at him, his attention previously being attracted to the window.

"Hey Wally."

"How're you doing?"

"I feel better than ever. What happened to me?"

Wally looked out the window and pursed his lips. It was a clear day outside. It was a clear day when they had gone into the Police Station, too; not a cloud in sight.

"You were… struck by lightning."

Bart's brown eyes widened. "Woah… and I'm okay?"

Wally's face remained dark. Bart frowned.

"Wally… I _am _okay, right?"

The red head swallowed loudly and looked at his younger cousin. "Bart…do you feel… strange at all? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"Uh… a little bit hungry, I guess- Wally, what's going on?"

"When you're sat by yourself, does it feel like time's going _really _slowly? Like, you look at the clock on the wall and the hand is moving slower than usual?"

Confusion creased Bart's brow. "Yeah… I guess… Wally, talk to me, please. What's happened to me?"

Wally nervously scratched his head and pointed to a glass of water on the other side of Bart's bed.

"Uh… pass me that glass, would you?"

"Wait… _I'm _the one who's in a hospital bed, and _you _need something to drink?"

"Just do it, smartass," Wally said suddenly, and Bart grabbed the glass and handed it over. Faster than he would have thought possible.

"Woah…" he gasped, staring down at his hands. "How did I do that?"

"You, uh…" Wally let out a long sigh and put the glass on the bedside table next to him. "Bart… listen… there's something you need to know…"

His younger cousin looked at him intently, hanging on his every word.

"I'm the Flash."

Bart's face darkened. "Dude… I'm feeling seriously freaked out here. Don't joke around."

"I'm not!" Wally said, opening his shirt to reveal the red shirt and yellow lightning bolt logo beneath. "See?"

The brown haired teen's eyes thinned sceptically. Wally rolled his eyes.

"All right, you want proof? Watch this."

Wally stood up, and in an instant, he was on the other side of Bart's bed. The teen looked from where Wally had been stood to where he was now.

"How… how did you do that?"

Wally's face remained serious. "Because I'm the Flash." He lifted his arm and vibrated it relatively slowly, so that Bart could see his hand visibly shaking from side to side, the buzzing noise lightly prodding against his ear. "See?"

Bart leaned back onto his propped up pillow, his eyes staring blankly forward. "You're… the Flash…" His face contorted into a frown. "So why are you telling me this _now! _Are you trying to scare me as much as you can in one day, is that it?"

Quickly making his way back to the chair, Wally sat down and did his best to comfort him. "Look, Bart… the way I got my powers… it was… I was at your dad's lab, just like you were today. And, just like you, I was struck by lightning and covered in the same chemicals that you were. And when I woke up… I-" he let out an ironic laugh. "-I 'felt better than I ever had before'," he finished, paraphrasing what Bart had earlier said to him.

The teen's face remained blank as his shell shocked brain processed this information. Wally could mentally hear the timer making a 'ting' noise as Bart finally understood.

"So… you mean that… I've got… I mean…" He paused to catch his breath. "I'm a superhero?"

Wally put his hands up defensively. "Woah woah woah. Nobody said you were a superhero. I'm just saying that you might have gotten some… special abilities. We're gonna have to run some tests first to make sure that your powers haven't-"

However, Bart was off in a world of his own. "So that guy who was with you… he's Green Lantern! Oh man, this is so cool! What should I call myself? Quickman? Flash junior?"

Giving up trying to talk about serious things, Wally's head perked up slightly. "How about Kid Flash?"

"Pffft. That's lame."

Wally scowled and fiddled with his thumbs. "Well I think it's a pretty good name, I don't know what your idea of a good name is…" he mumbled into his shirt, though secretly pleased that Bart was taking it the way he was.

Wally sighed. Now he just had to tell Bart's parents…

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(A/N: Not too sure if this is longer or shorter than my usual, but it sure felt like a pain to write. I think it's because there isn't much in the way of costumed antics.

For any Flash fans reading this; Barry Allen and Aunt Iris are still around in this fic, I'm just leaving it open as to whether Barry Allen was ever the Flash or not. Either he was just a police scientist who helped Wally with his powers, or he was the Flash and has now retired with his wife. But considering that Bart doesn't have superspeed, and that kind of thing is hereditary… I'll let you guess about it.

And yeah, Bart is Barry's son here, not his _grand_son like in the comics. I just figured it's simpler than explaining the whole Allen/Thawne/Cobalt Blue/Time Travel thing – that gives me headaches just thinking about it…

And incidentally:

Goodbye, _Justice League Unlimited. _You rocked royally.

Reviews please.)


	3. Testing Limits

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Rest and Relaxation**_

_**Chapter Three: Testing Limits**_

The doors to the Metro Tower opened obligingly for Wally and Bart, the lattermost being agape with wonder at the technological marvel he was now entering. Superheroes of all shapes, sizes and colours walked by nonchalantly, acting as though it were just another day at the office - as if they didn't save the world on a regular basis. They were just walking around, calling out greetings to each other as they passed, moaning about paperwork and talking amongst themselves as they went… if Bart hadn't known better, he would have thought he was working in an office building.

The three stepped into an elevator, where Green Arrow was waiting for them.

"Hey guys."

"Hey GA," Wally replied with a quick smile. Bart looked up at his cousin in awe.

_My cousin is on a nickname basis with Green Arrow! How cool is that?_

It was still odd to see Wally in the Flash costume, but it was getting easier to cope with. He realised that Green Arrow was talking to him.

"S-sorry, what did you say?"

The blonde archer smiled slightly. "I said, is this your first time in the Metro Tower?" An eyebrow cocked beneath his thin eye mask. "But then again, you've just answered my question."

Bart just replied with a nervous smile, which was the best he could do under the circumstances. Wally put a supportive hand on his shoulder.

"Dude. If you're scared of Green Arrow, you're just not gonna make it here. He's pretty much the most human guy around here."

An ironic smile appeared on Green Arrow's lips. "You got that right… I don't think he's ready to meet Batman _just _yet."

Bart's eyes widened, and Wally groaned.

"Woah… _Batman's_ here? Like, _in _the Tower?"

Arrow opened his mouth, a bemused frown on his face. He tossed a look Wally's way, who just shrugged with a smile.

"He's a big Batman fan."

"Aaaah, I see…" Arrow said, nodding with a smile. "Well, trust me kid, you might want to wait until you're a bit more established in the whole superhero thing before you go talking to Batman."

Wally, meanwhile, was putting his finger to his lips and giving Arrow a 'shut up' look.

Bart grinned. "Cool."

The doors to one of the medical bay areas opened, and Arrow held out his arm in a grand gesture.

"After you," he said with a smile. They couldn't have been able to stop Bart if they'd tried. In a blur of colour, Bart was around the corner and in the medical bay.

Green Arrow looked at Wally. "What was that about?"

Wally frowned. "We don't know if he's actually got permanent superpowers yet."

Arrow winced. "Oh. Sorry."

"No biggie. We still on for that poker game next Thursday?"

"Only if you're ready to lose out big time."

"Y'know, it's not really fair for you multi billionaires to win all the time."

"It's not really fair for you fellas to have superpowers all the time."

"Touché," Wally said, a small smile quirking up the side of his face. "I'll see you later."

"Have fun."

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John had nearly been knocked over when Bart zipped into the medical bay. He was beginning to see annoyingly accurate similarities between Bart and Wally. As the various doctors asked Bart different questions and hooked him up to one machine, then the next, John couldn't help but feel sorry for the kid. Come to think of it, he couldn't help but feel sorry for all of the superheroes who fell into it accidentally. At least with his ring, he had the choice. The Guardians asked him, gave him the choice. A lot of the people in the League, they never got the chance to decide.

He let out a heavy sigh, rubbing his forehead.

"Hey GL. What's with the long face?"

John looked over to see Wally stood next to him with two Styrofoam cups of coffee. Grateful for some caffeine, John took his cup and took a delicious sip.

"Just thinking about the kid. How he didn't ask for any of this."

Wally shrugged and took a sip of his entirely too sweet coffee. "Not many of us did, GL. I mean, even Bats didn't have a choice, and he doesn't have superpowers."

John let out a grunt in reply.

"So… do we know how long the testing's gonna take?"

"Could be any amount of time," John said, shrugging. He turned to the scarlet speedster. "How much testing did you have to go through?"

"There was no League back then, so I didn't have to do any. We just tested it by running from one place to another, and timing how long it took. All the vibrating stuff came later."

John nodded and took another sip of his coffee, casting his gaze over Bart through the two way glass screen. It seemed to help Bart that he could see Wally and John there, although John doubted that_ he _was particularly comforting to the kid.

"What were you talking to Green Arrow about?"

"Oh, uh… nothing."

John cocked an eyebrow. "Wally…"

The speedster sighed. "We were talking about a poker game next week."

"I didn't know about any poker game."

"Well, you seem so, y'know… recently, so…"

John turned to face Wally. "Wait, back up. What do you mean 'y'know recently'?"

"Well, y'know… you've been a bit… distant from the League lately. It's not like I blame you or anything, what with all the Shayera and Vixen stuff-"

"There's no 'Shayera and Vixen stuff'! I don't know where everybody's getting this from!"

Wally leaned back slightly at the outburst, his shocked expression evident through his mask. "Okay… There's no Shayera and Vixen stuff."

Lantern ground his teeth. "Wally, I said there isn't."

"And I said okay."

Taking a deep breath, John tried to calm himself. "All right. I will say this once more, for the last time. There is no Shayera and Vixen stuff. I am with Vixen. Shayera can date- can do anything she wants." He looked at Wally. "Okay?"

Wally nodded slowly. "Okay," he said, his voice having a hint of amusement. "If it bothers you so much, do you want to come to the poker game?"

"Please. I'm not some child."

"But you'd like to, huh?"

"I said I'm fine."

"Okay."

"I'm _fine."_

"And I said _okay," _Wally said, his tone of voice clearly indicating how amusing he was finding the whole conversation.

Rather than become even angrier and run the risk of his head exploding, John decided to change the subject.

"Have you told his parents?"

Wally puffed out his cheeks as he blew out a long breath. "Yeah, and I tell you, I've never heard them yell as much as they did when I told them. As if it's _my _fault I put the chemicals in the same place as before _just _as a thunder cloud was coming."

John decided to leave that alone. "Are they on their way?"

Flash nodded. "They'll be here the day after tomorrow."

Turning their attention back to Bart, they saw that he was now on a treadmill. Wally chuckled and shook his head.

"That's not gonna work…" he said expectantly, his eyes seemingly waiting for something explosive to happen.

John cocked an eyebrow. "It's meant to accommodate for whatever speed the person is going."

"I know. _That's _why it won't work. We couldn't get any treadmill to go fast enough for me when I got my powers. The treadmill I've got now had to be especially designed by Cyborg."

"From the Titans?"

"Yeah."

John paused for a moment. Bart had just wrecked the treadmill by going too fast. "What are you going to do if it's permanent?" he said, keeping his eyes on the teenage speedster.

Wally sighed. "I dunno. I mean, I _guess _could have a sidekick, but…"

John almost spit out his coffee. "_You? _With a sidekick?"

"Yeah… why?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, you mean nothing like 'there's no Shayera and Vixen stuff' nothing, right?"

John was silent for a moment. "Shut up, Wally."

A satisfied grin on his face, Flash took to looking through the window again. Bart gave him a wave as one of the doctors scribbled something on his clipboard. Wally gave him a wave back as the doctor left and entered the observation room with them. Flash turned to face him.

"Well?"

"According to what we have on your abilities, Flash… he seems to have the exact same metabolism and stamina that you would have had at his age."

"But he's okay, right?"

The Doctor sighed and flipped through the chart. "Well, we'll need to keep him overnight for observations, but… it appears as though he is, yes."

Flash nodded. "Hey, it's nearly dinner time. We'll take him to the cafeteria for something to eat before we go. Is that okay?"

The Doctor smiled. "Of course, of course. It would probably help for him to see some familiar faces."

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John was feeling a strange combination of both disgust and amazement at what was going on before him. Watching Wally eat was bad enough for him. But seeing two super speedsters stuffing their faces… that was pushing even _his _limits a bit too far. He ducked as a stray piece of chicken leg flew his way, and used his ring to stop it splattering grease on the floor.

"Could you two slow down?"

The two barely stopped to register that he had spoke. They looked at each other, then back to John before shaking their heads and resuming their meal. The Green Lantern sighed into his steak before attacking it viciously with his knife and fork.

"Steak again, GL?" Wally asked, his words muffled by the food filling his mouth.

"What's wrong with steak?"

"Nothing; you've just been eating it a lot lately."

"Well, I like steak. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay."

The trio resumed their eating, when Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E wandered by, the latter wearing his rarely seen civilian clothes. Bart immediately stopped his eating, allowing some stray pieces of lettuce to dangle from his mouth. John winced.

"Kid, c'mon."

Bart gave him an inquisitive look before quickly eating the lettuce. A sheepish look crossed his face, but he was rapidly pulled away from reality by the beautiful blonde teen superheroine walking by. Stargirl evidently noticed her admirer, because she turned and smiled slightly at Bart's unabashed staring.

"Hey Flash. GL," she said, nodding at the two. Wally gave a quick wave before continuing his feast. Stargirl looked at Bart, who was now looking quite embarrassed at being rumbled.

"Who's this?" she asked, trying her best to sound like an older, experienced Leaguer. John tried to resist the urge to roll his eyes.

"This is-" Wally stopped himself as he nearly choked on a particularly large piece of bread. He gestured to John for him to finish the sentence as he desperately tried to force the food down with some water.

John sighed. "This is… um…" He looked at Wally, who had, much to his own relief, managed to force the chunk of bread down his throat. "Has he even got a codename yet?"

Wally gasped for breath, and then paused. "Um… I dunno. Because _I_ thought that Kid Flash was a pretty good name, but-"

"You're hot," Bart said instantly, his eyes still trained on Stargirl. S.T.R.I.P.E, instantly hearing this, quickly made his way over.

"Woah woah woah, what's going on here?"

John rubbed his closed eyes with his thumb and forefinger. He looked over at Bart irritably. "Dammit kid, don't you ever do anything that's _not _on impulse?"

Wally nodded, taking a bite from another breadstick. "Hey, that's pretty good."

"What?"

"Impulse. For a codename, I mean."

Everyone, including Bart, simply stared at him.

"What?"

The younger speedster scratched his chin. "Impulse… that's pretty good for you," he said, shooting a cocky grin in Wally's direction. The speedster just responded with a quick sarcastic smile.

Stargirl cocked her head. "So? What's your name?"

Bart nodded and smiled, extending his hand. "Impulse. I'm the Flash's partner."

Wally choked on his bread yet again, and John couldn't prevent the smile on his face.

S.T.R.I.P.E took Stargirl by the shoulders and led her away from the table. "Okay, nice to meet you, Impulse. Hope to see you around."

Stargirl waved at Bart over her stepfather's shoulder, who promptly melted in his chair. He looked over at Wally.

"She's really hot."

Wally just shrugged. "Yeah, she's nice."

Bart looked over at him sarcastically. "'Nice', huh? So who do you think is better?" He smirked. "You got a League girlfriend? Someone mom and dad don't know about?"

Though he loathed to get drawn into these kinds of schoolgirl conversations, John had to confess to being slightly curious himself. The last time he checked, Wally hadn't been having the best of luck with the opposite sex. Of course, the way he acted around them didn't help. Wally shifted awkwardly in his chair, and John took an amused sip of his water.

"Well, uh…"

"Is it Hawkgirl? 'Cause she's hot."

The water came spewing from John's mouth, his eyes wide. Bart looked over at him with a mixture of shock and disgust. Grimacing, the teenage speedster wiped the water from his shirt while Wally looked on with extreme amusement. John pointed to Wally while looking at Bart in disbelief.

"You think… that him… and… is that… what?" he said, looking over at Wally, completely flabbergasted by the suggestion. Wally put his hands up defensively.

"Hey, I'm not doing anything with Shayera."

Bart's smirk returned. "Oh, so it's _Shayera, _huh?"

"She's just a friend."

Bart nodded. "They always start out that way…"

John glared at the younger speedster. If he didn't know Bart could avoid him at super speed, he probably would have lunged for him by now.

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"So when do I get a costume?"

Wally scratched the back of his neck. "… let's just see if the powers stick first, okay?"

"And if they do? When do I get my costume?"

"I dunno! Sometime… later, I guess."

Bart crossed his arms, making a mild huffing noise. "Fine."

Wally let out a long breath. "Well… I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay."

The Flash nodded and smiled before turning to the door, which slid open obligingly.

"Hey, W- Flash?"

The speedster allowed a small smile at the almost slip up. Most of the Leaguers that could pass by at this time of day already knew his secret identity anyway. Not that it would matter if they all knew his name was Wally. None of the League members exactly had loose lips.

"Yeah?"

"You… _are _okay with me being your partner, right?"

Wally's small smile widened as he turned to face his cousin. "Yeah. I'm okay with it."

The smile that spread across Bart's face made Wally feel much better about this entire ordeal. After one last glance at the younger speedster, Wally stepped through the door and was greeted by Green Arrow in the corridor outside the med bay. Arrow waited until the door was shut before he spoke.

"How is he?"

Wally sighed. "Looks like he's the next Kid Flash."

"Really? And you're okay with that?"

He grinned. "Hey… How hard can having a sidekick be?"

Green Arrow's eyes thinned beneath his mask. "Hard. _Very hard."_

Flash's face fell. "Seriously?"

"Oh yeah. If they're not complaining about one thing, they're getting themselves into trouble without you knowing, or joining up with a group of other irresponsible teenagers…" he smirked at the last statement, and Flash couldn't help but grin, despite his nervousness.

"Yeah, those teenagers are a real pain to work with."

The archer's smile slowly faded. "Just be careful with him. You always think it's going to be easy, but they bring a whole other bag of problems with them. One of the worst and best moments of my life was when Roy went to join the Titans."

Wally paused at the unusual sounding seriousness of Arrow's voice. "…thanks." His face brightened as he started walking to the elevator, Arrow walking alongside him. "Hey, you got any good sidekick tips? I'm thinking of asking Bats for some advice, too."

Arrow paused. "You _have_ met Nightwing, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Just talk to him. He can give you a crash course in how _not _to treat your sidekick." He shrugged as they reached the elevator, sighing as he pushed the button. "It's a balancing act. You've got to let them do their own thing, but you've got to keep them close by at the same time. That is, unless they join a team."

The elevator arrived and the doors opened. The two heroes stepped inside.

"So… what? You think I should send him to the Titans?"

"Oh, God no. You'd miss out on half the fun of having a sidekick if you did that. You miss out on the 'job well done' feeling and the patting each other on the back. You don't get to do that very much when you're flying solo."

"Yeah…"

The doors slid open as they reached the ground floor, and the two stepped out. John stood at the entrance of the Metro Tower, still in his Lantern uniform. Flash turned towards Arrow.

"Thanks for the advice, GA. I'll keep it in mind."

"You'd better; the kid'll eat you alive if you don't. And don't forget to bring your wallet next Thursday; I hear there's some of my money in there," he said, a smirk on his face.

"Oh, like it matters, GA. Dr Fate always knows when we're bluffing, anyway."

"Too true. See you later."

"Later."

Wally made his way over to the unusually patient John Stewart waiting at the door.

"Ready to go?"

The speedster nodded as they stepped outside. "Yeah. Let's go."

He kept his pace down so he could run alongside the flying Lantern beside him. They quickly twisted and turned as they took the intersection out of Metropolis and towards Central City.

"What do you wanna do tonight?"

John shrugged. "What did you have in mind?"

"Hockey game on tonight. Keystone Combines and the Steel City Champions. Six pack of beer and a pizza?"

John nodded, a rare smile spreading across his face. It felt good to be looking forward to something. "Sounds good."

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John and Wally yelled in agony as a player was knocked roughly from his feet.

"Oh, come on, that's gotta be a foul!"

"There's no way _that's _a foul."

"Trust me GL, I've been watching hockey since I was a kid. I know what a foul is."

"Well, that's pretty funny looking foul to me."

"Oh yeah? Well we'll just see what the referee has to say."

John smirked. "$20 to the winner?"

Pulling out his wallet in a competitive frenzy, Wally thrust a twenty dollar bill on to the table. "You're on."

John did the same, and they turned their attention back to the television.

The two leaned forward to look at the screen, each willing the referee to judge in favour of their theories.

"It was _so _a foul," Wally muttered.

"Not gonna happen."

The referee pulled out a yellow card.

Wally fell back onto the sofa, groaning. "I don't believe it! That was _such _a foul!"

John's smirk grew as he theatrically took the twenty dollars from the table and put it in his wallet.

"Game, set and match."

"Ha, ha," Wally said, snatching a slice of pizza from the box on the table and munching on it huffily.

The game went on.

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Ted walked past the cell marked 'Abra Kadabra'.

"Lights out, Kadabra."

"What? Already?"

Ted rolled his eyes.

_Every single time…_

"Just do it Kadabra, or I'll have security come in there and magically make the light bulb disappear."

There was a brief pause, and then the light went out.

"You never treated Mirror Master this way…" he grumbled, and Ted chuckled to himself as he went on to the next cell. Although these were dangerous criminals incarcerated in Iron Heights, it was difficult to tell at times. He came to the next cell, that of Roscoe Dillon, otherwise known as 'The Top'.

"Lights out, Dillon."

All he heard was what sounded like muttering. He knocked on the door.

"Dillon? I said lights out."

Still no response.

"Dillon?"

The muttering continued. He slid the food and deliveries slot open, taking a peek inside the cell. Suddenly, he was overcome by powerful wave of nausea, unlike anything he had ever felt before. He fell to his knees and vomited, a dull yet sharp pain quickly forming at the front of his head, his perceptions swirling and blurring together, unable to make out anything.

The door blew from its hinges, blasting into Ted and slamming him into the wall opposite. A small green hurricane came out of the cell, gradually coming to a halt and revealing the Top. He smiled as he breathed in loudly.

"Ah…freedom. There's nothing quite like it."

"Top! Top, my good friend! Help out a fellow rogue, would you?"

The green and yellow striped villain looked over at the cell containing Abra Kadabra, and simply smiled.

"Apologies, Kadabra, but you don't come close to being any fellow of mine."

And with that, he twirled around, going faster and faster until all that remained was a green and yellow blur, spinning on the spot. It quickly shot through the wall and out into the prison yard.

Alarms blared and snipers took aim, but all of their efforts were futile. Bullets whirled away from the Top as fast as they were fired, and anyone coming close enough to him to do anything became incapacitated with illness and nausea. He smiled as he span away, looking forward to seeing his good friend the Flash once again. Once that matter was over and done with, he could rejoin the Weather Wizard and the rest of Grodd's Secret Society once again.

He passed by a liquor store as he made his way down the streets of Central City. He immediately came to a halt and paused at the window.

"Well, I suppose a glass of Port wouldn't go amiss…"

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(A/N: Say hello to the supreme upper class snob that is The Top. In the more modern comics, the Top (aside from being dead – for the moment) is quite insane as well as being a snob, being more akin to a very loopy Penguin than anything else. In _Justice League Unlimited_, however, he seems mostly in control of his faculties (even though he never speaks). So I just made him an insufferable snob – which makes him an interesting foil for the borderline slob Wally, don't you think?

Anyways, review.)


	4. Different Tastes

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Rest and Relaxation**_

_**Chapter Four: Different Tastes**_

Although most cities never truly slept, Central City seemed to be the exception. It never truly came alive until the random time of 11:00 AM, which was, bizarrely enough, the time Wally West naturally rose from his slumber. He was never sure if it was his metabolism that made him sleep longer, or it was just him. The speedster honestly couldn't remember a time when he didn't have his powers, and that suited him fine. He didn't know what he would do without his powers; he didn't _want_ to know.

And so, at roughly the stroke of 11:00 AM, Wally would wake up and begin his morning ritual of dancing to an obscenely loud and irritating song. That is, if he didn't have to go to work. Which, fortunately for him, he didn't have to do today, or this entire week. Yawning noisily as he walked over to the stereo, Wally mentally went through the different songs he could play. He had already done 'Kung Fu Fighting' for a few days… now it was time for something different. The trademark Flash grin spread across his face as he made his selection.

"Perfect…" he mumbled to himself absentmindedly, putting in the appropriate CD and selecting the track he wanted. He turned up the volume and pressed play. Wally pumped his fist in time with the incredibly loud music.

"WHA! HUH! WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? ABSOLUTELY NOTHIN'!"

"WALLY!"

The Flash ducked his head in shock as the enraged voice of John Stewart assaulted his ears.

For all of his incredible abilities, Wally had a tendency to let details disappear from his mind as he slept. It was probably a result of his short attention span, which was in turn a result of his increased metabolism. Although he apparently didn't have much of an attention span before he got his powers (at least, according to his uncle and aunt), so Wally guessed his powers had just made him worse. In any case, he would sometimes forget certain things.

Like the fact John Stewart, otherwise known as the superhero Green Lantern, was sleeping on his couch.

"Turn that off! Now!"

Moving as fast as his limbs would allow, Wally quickly turned off the music and smiled sheepishly.

"Uh… sorry. Kinda forgot you were there."

John glared at him for the longest time, but his resolve eventually faltered as his need to sleep overcame him. "Just keep it down."

Wally grinned, and thought about the irony that a trained military guy like John would like to sleep in past noon as he got his breakfast. Although, Wally hadn't seen him in his natural routine, so John could very well be an early to bed, early to rise type. It just seemed that every time he had any kind of contact with Wally that lasted overnight, he would end up being run ragged some way or another.

Flash grimaced at how nasty that sounded in his head, and how it must have looked to the other five Leaguers back in the day; John going to visit Wally, and always coming back looking tired.

He shook his head and ate his customary five bowls of cereals and ten slices of toast in the space of about ten minutes before dashing into his room and suiting up. When he wasn't working at the Police Station, he liked to spend more time as the Flash around the city; make the people feel like they're important to him. It was also a way for him to blow off some steam; he was still worried about Bart, and what exactly to do about him. Seeing as how he had all but officially told Bart he could be a superhero, Wally couldn't very well go back on his word now.

As he pulled his red cowl over his head, Wally grimaced at the thought of telling his parents their son was the next in line to the Flash mantle. He tiptoed behind the loudly snoring John (Wally thanked God that the door to his room was so soundproof, or he may have never gotten to sleep) and sped out of his apartment building and into the city.

The Flash grin now permanently affixed to his face, Wally shot down the street, feeling the wind blow against his face and hearing the greetings and admiring shout outs from the public.

_I love this city._

He passed a construction site on his way, and quickly back-pedalled to the entrance, jogging on the spot so as not to lose his momentum. One of the builders looked up from his work and waved.

"Hey Flash!"

Wally waved right back. "Hey, Ted! How's it going?"

"Pretty good! Thanks for stopping that Heatwave nut last month! He could have really put a cramp on our building plans!"

"No problem. How're the kids?"

"They're doin' great. Thanks for those Metro Tower tour tickets; they loved 'em!"

"Good! Great talking to you, Ted!"

"You too, Flash!"

He flashed a grin and sped off down the street, heading for the bridge that linked Central City to the Keystone area. As he sped down the road, he recognised one of the drivers of a car, and slowed his run down to walk alongside.

"Hey, Diane!"

She turned in mild surprise, but then quickly grinned as she saw who it was. "Oh, hi Flash! How're you today?"

"Doing pretty good; just going for my morning jog, y'know?"

Diane laughed good naturedly. "Those special soles you recommended for my shoes are working wonders! Thanks for the tip."

"No problem. Where're you off to today?"

"I've got a job interview." She looked at an approaching sign. "And this is my exit. See you later!"

"Good luck with the interview!"

Wally sped down the street and towards downtown Keystone. As he approached a junction, two police cars shot across, sirens blazing. Flash quickly altered course and followed. Putting his fingers to his earpiece, he pushed the button that tuned it to the Central City Police frequency. He listened intently.

"_All units, all units, disturbance in-"_

Wally didn't require any more information as a car was tossed into the air above him and over his head. Making a quick U-turn, Flash put himself in the path of the falling car and extended his arms, churning the air in front of him by whirling his arms at superspeed. At first it seemed as though the wind from his arms would blow the car back in the other direction, but Wally adjusted the strength of the wind so as to gently ease the car down to the ground. He ducked his head next to the window.

"You guys all right?"

The man and woman in the car nodded, both grimacing.

"Call an ambulance and have them check you guys out for whiplash, okay?" After giving a quick thumbs up, Wally was once again down the street and heading towards the disturbance. As he approached the scene, he noticed something green.

He groaned as he approached.

"Oh, great. The Top."

He came to a halt in front of the whirling green blur, his hands on his hips in the usual Flash fashion.

"Isn't this getting a little old, Top?"

The miniature green tornado came to a quick halt, revealing the green and yellow striped costume of the Rogue called The Top.

"Not at all, m'boy. This kind of thing _never _ceases to entertain me!"

"You're kinda weird, you know that?"

"My old friend Benjamin used to tell me the same thing. He couldn't tell the difference between a Chardonnay '91 and a Chardonnay '92, either. So I killed him," Top said nonchalantly.

Flash grimaced. "Just shut up and let me take you to jail, all right? I've got friends over, and family problems… I really don't need this right now."

Top shrugged. "Fair enough. All you have to do… is catch me," he said, smirking as he began whirling once again, becoming the same small green tornado as before. It always reminded Wally of the Tasmanian Devil. The Top, still spinning, shot down the street.

"Oh, please," Wally muttered, before taking off down the street after the criminal.

Within little time, Wally had caught up with the spinning villain, and was running alongside him. Backwards.

He grinned and put his hands behind his head. "Y'know, this really wasn't the best strategy. It's kinda hard to outrace the Fastest Man Alive."

"Couldn't agree more. But let's see how fast you are when you're losing your breakfast."

An overpowering wave of nausea suddenly overcame Wally, making him dizzy and blurring his vision. He stumbled and fell, sliding across the ground at such speeds he actually bounced down the road like a flat pebble on water. He skidded to a gradual halt, and pulled himself up to his feet, resting his hands on his knees as he took deep breaths. The Top came to a halt in front of him.

"You see, Flash, I started to get these nasty headaches while I was in prison. I thought I was dying. The doctors certainly thought so. But then I found out it was just my abilities evolving. Changing. Adapting… so I could beat you. I can change the way your eyes perceive everything around you. I can spin your world around… and turn it upside down." He smirked. "The ultimate control."

To prove his point, he bombarded Flash with another wave of nausea, and this one was not so easily staved off. Wally groaned as he fell to all fours and vomited onto the floor, the world spinning out of control around him, his eyes almost throbbing with pain. The Top knelt down next to him, still projecting wave after dizzying wave of nausea and dizziness through Wally's head.

"Let me put it this way; you leave me alone… and I'll leave you alone. Because you can't even touch me… and neither can anyone else."

He span away, leaving Wally to slowly gather himself and push himself shakily to his feet. Several bystanders got out of their cars to help him, but he waved them off, offering them a reassuring smile to show them he was okay.

He put a hand to his head in an attempt to ease the throbbing pain that was pulsing through his head.

_I just know John isn't gonna like this._

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"And you didn't think it was a good idea to call for backup?" John barked, glaring with all the intensity his glowing green eyes would allow.

"Hey, it's not like I _knew _he had a new power!" Wally said defensively, shooting the same glare back. "It just caught me off guard. Next time I'll handle it."

"How? You can't even get close to him."

"I'll figure something out."

"This kind of problem can't be solved by improvising. You've got to plan it out first."

Wally groaned and leant against the wall of the elevator. "But I don't want to…" he mumbled, causing John to sigh.

"Look, just tell me next time you're going on patrol. I'll be able to get at him with my ring without having to get too close."

"Fine," Wally grumbled.

"Fine."

The elevator was silent as they approached their floor. Wally absentmindedly watched the lights flick down as they ascended the elevator shaft, and John preoccupied himself looking at the floor numbers. The doors opened as they reached their floor.

"I still think it's stupid," Wally mumbled as they stepped out, walking towards the medical bay.

"It's not stupid; it's called being cautious."

"Same thing. I still say we can wing it."

"Well we can't. You tried that and got beaten. Badly."

"Beaten, schmeaten. I'll be able to find a way to beat him next time, easy."

John sighed. "All right," he said, raising his arms in surrender. "But at least let me be there to witness your great victory."

"Can do," Wally replied with a wink.

As they approached the door to the medical bay, John noticed Green Arrow and Black Canary talking as they walked towards them down the corridor. The billionaire archer was carrying an arrow with a small buzz saw attached to the end, and was in the process of showing it to his significant other.

She cocked an eyebrow incredulously. "A buzz saw arrow?"

"What? You don't like it?"

"No, it's fine… It just seems a bit… self indulgent."

"_Self indulgent? _This might come in handy!"

"Oh really? When?"

Arrow paused. "Uh… I…" he looked up at Flash. "Hey, Wally, help me out here."

Flash glanced at Canary and just shrugged. "It's stupid."

"You're just saying that because of Dinah. What do you really think of it?"

"It's…" Wally sighed. "Really cool." He smiled apologetically at Black Canary. "I'm sorry! It is!"

"That's fine, Wally. You'll just pay for it at the poker game on Thursday."

The speedster looked over at Green Arrow, who was whistling innocently. "Dinah's coming now, huh?"

"She found out," Arrow offered, shrugging. "_You_ try dissuading her."

"Why?" Canary asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Is that a problem?"

Flash put his hands up defensively. "Uh… no, I uh… well, that is…"

The doctor came into the corridor through the medical bay door. "Ah, Flash, I-"

"What's that doctor? You need to see me in the medical bay _right now? _You do? I'll be right there. Sorry Dinah see you later bye!"

He shot into the medical bay, grabbing the doctor and pulling him inside as he went. John chuckled to himself and shrugged to the couple. Green Arrow just gave John a knowing look before continuing on his way. John paused for a moment before Arrow left, and considered asking him about what was on his mind. After a second's hesitation, he shook his head and opened the medical bay door.

"Oh, John!"

The Lantern turned to look at Green Arrow.

"Yeah?"

"You want to come to the poker game on Thursday? My place, 8:00?"

John shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah. Sure."

Arrow smirked. "Good. Bring your wallet."

With a smile and a shake of his head, John went into the medical bay, where Bart was already on his feet, anxiously jumping from one foot to the other as the doctor talked to Wally about something or other.

"So here's all clear? He's free to go?"

The doctor nodded. "As far as I can tell, he's perfectly healthy. Well, it's above perfect, as you well know."

The speedster nodded and blew out a breath. "Yeah, I kinda do. Thanks doc."

"No problem. Just remember, _you've_ got a check up next week."

Wally offered a small salute in response. "Aye aye." He turned to face his cousin. "C'mon Bart, let's go. You need to call your parents and tell them you're okay."

"Can I go on patrol first?"

Wally's eyes bulged. "Can you _what?_"

"Can I go on patrol before I call my parents? I want to get a feel for the city."

John let out a brief burst of laughter at Wally's shocked reaction. The speedster scowled at him, and John put his hand over his mouth to shield his grin. Ignoring his amused friend, Wally turned his attention back to his younger cousin.

"Bart… I really think you should talk to your parents before you-"

"But they're just gonna say no."

"Yeah, but… maybe they've got a point. I mean, if you went home, your dad could teach you how to use your powers, and then you-"

"But Dad always said that 'experience in the field can teach you more-"

"'-than theory ever could', I know, I know," Wally sighed, annoyed at being undone by his own mentor's sage advice. He groaned. "All right, all right. But we haven't got you a costume yet, so-"

Bart waved a dismissive hand. "Pffft. _I've _taken care of that."

"You-" Wally blinked and calmed himself. "You've taken care of that?"

Bart nodded excitedly, and then sped off. Before Wally could even stand up, Bart was back in a new costume. John cocked his head to the side as he considered the costume Bart had somehow whipped up.

His thick brown hair stuck out of the top, similar to Wally's Kid Flash costume, though that seemed to be one of the very few similarities. The colours and their arrangement were different to the Kid Flash costume, with no lightning bolts to be found, except on the red ear pieces. Instead of a golden yellow, Bart had opted for a pale almost egg white and a ruby red colour, the red running up the inside of his costume in a thick line while the white covered the rest. Two yellow eye pieces, almost like goggles, shielded his eyes, making him almost look like a pilot.

Bart grinned. "Say hello to Impulse."

"How'd you make that?"

"The Atom did it for me. He said something about… owing you for all the times you'd come into his lab and 'helped' him."

Wally responded almost robotically as frustration gripped his voice. "Oh, _did _he? How interesting. I will have to thank him for that."

"Yeah, isn't it great?"

Wally sighed and looked over at John, who just shrugged. Flash put up his hands in defeat.

"All right, fine. But before we go, I've gotta talk this over with the other guys."

"The other guys?"

"The, uh… original seven. They want to talk about it."

"Oh, okay. But after that, we can go out on patrol, right?"

Wally sighed. "I guess…"

Bart pumped the air with his fist and excitedly shot over to the elevator. John started walking over to join him.

"I still think Kid Flash is better…" Wally crossed his arms and grumbled the entire way to the elevator.

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John tried to avoid eye contact with Shayera across the large table, although she wasn't exactly forthcoming with her eye line either, giving him little to worry about by the way of awkwardness. Clark cocked a sceptical eyebrow at the conclusion of Wally's story.

"And you just… _led_ Bart over to the window?"

Wally nodded blankly.

"This being the _same_ window where you got _your_ powers."

Wally hesitated for a moment, and then nodded again.

Letting out a sigh, Shayera buried her face in her hand. "Oh, Yom Shigureth…" she muttered, causing even J'onn to smile slightly.

"Hey – how did _I _know it was going to happen again? It's not like I _chose_ to give Bart super speed. Believe me; I'd rather he _didn't_ have it."

John bit back his frustrated reply to Wally's defensive attitude.

"But he does, and his future status is what we are here to discuss. _Not _whether Wally was at fault or not," J'onn inserted, and Wally gave him a grateful nod for his support.

"Well? What _should _we do about him? Offer him membership?" Diana asked, leaning forward in genuine curiosity. John had to admit that he shared her interest in the subject; there hadn't been anything much to discuss in the recent meetings; just status reports to file and such. To have something to debate and discuss was something of a novelty.

Clark shook his head. "No. He's too young."

"So's Stargirl, but she came anyway," Wally responded.

"No, S.T.R.I.P.E was invited into the League, and Stargirl just followed him along for the ride. We couldn't split them up, so we had to give her membership. I don't want to have to do that again."

The Scarlet Speedster sighed. "Okay, so what do you want to do? Leave him solo?"

He sighed. "No… I just think he needs some more training before we start putting him on the field where the lives of others will be dependant on him. Not to mention the risk to himself."

"Look, I wasn't much older than him when I started in this business, and look how good I turned out."

The room went silent, and Batman coughed.

Shayera leaned forward to break the silence. "What do _you_ want Bart to do, Wally?" Shayera asked, and Wally nodded gracefully.

"Thank you, Shayera. _I_ think that Bart should… uh…"

"Do you want him to join the League?"

"Well, I… no, I guess. I'd rather he worked with me," he said, as though he was only just realising his opinion.

Clark cocked an eyebrow. "Alone?"

"No, I was thinking of taking my Great Aunt Irma with me. Yes, alone."

The Man of Steel raised a defensive hand and spoke gently to the speedster. "We're just trying to sort through this, Wally. There's no need to get snarky."

"You guys are treating me like I'm some stupid kid who can't do anything right. How am I supposed to react?"

John cleared his throat. "He has a point."

Superman, obviously not appreciating John's comment, sent him a subtle glare. Anyone who wasn't one of the original seven wouldn't have seen anything unusual, but any of the original seven Leaguers _knew _when Clark was glaring at them.

"Can we just put this to a vote, please?" Shayera asked, sighing.

Clark nodded. "All right. Shayera, what do you think we should do?"

Shayera shrugged. "I think he should stay in Central City with Wally."

"Right," Clark said, nodding. "J'onn? What do you think?"

"I believe we should consider what Bart wants to do. According to both Wally and John, Bart wishes to remain in Central City with his cousin. I believe that that is where he should stay."

Wally nodded in approval, the Flash grin returning with a vengeance. Clark turned to Diana, who was sat at his side.

"Diana? What about you?"

"Invite him into the League," she responded. "That way, we can keep an eye on him, but he still gets contact with Wally."

Flash leaned forward in protest. "But he d-"

Superman raised a silencing hand. "Wait your turn, Wally. I think he should join the League on a training basis. Once a week or so he'll come to the Metro Tower, and we'll train him in the use of his powers. Eventually, we'll slowly move him up to field missions."

Wally scowled in disbelief. "What? That's-"

John gave him a warning look, and Wally stopped in mid protest. Clark turned to John.

"What about you, John?"

"I think we should go with what Wally says."

Clark cocked an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes, really."

Clark turned to Batman, who thus far had made little contribution to the discussion. In all honesty, he remained so still and stony that John sometimes wondered if he didn't fall to sleep during the meetings.

"Bruce? What about you?"

The Dark Knight was silent for a moment before responding, not moving once. "I think you should let him do what he wants."

"You- what?"

Batman rose from his chair and walked to the doors. They slid open, and the Dark Knight lingered in the doorway. "What's the worst that could happen?" he said dryly, before stalking away, the doors sliding silently shut behind him.

The remaining six Leaguers sat, mildly flabbergasted at what they had just witnessed. Batman? Siding with _Wally_, of all people?

Said speedster slowly turned around to face the rest of the heroes assembled around the table, his arms crossing and a cocky Flash grin on his face.

"I'll just go tell Bart the good news, shall I?"

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John tried to ignore Wally's grin as they descended in the elevator. After they passed the 43rd floor, John snapped.

"Could you please just wipe that thing off your face?"

"What? I won. I never win in those meetings. It's always 'that's stupid, Flash', or, 'you need to look at the big picture, Flash'. Now it's all… well, not… that."

John sighed. "So what do you want to do first? Go patrolling with Bart, talk to his parents, what?"

"Uh…" Wally cast his gaze upwards as he thought to himself. "…tell you what; we'll call his parents from the Metro Tower front desk before we go on patrol. That way, everybody's happy."

John cocked an eyebrow, and Wally sighed in defeat.

"Fine, they're not exactly gonna be crazy about it, but if they let _me_ do it as a kid, then why not Bart?"

"It's very different when it's _your _kid."

Flash scowled and looked John straight in the eyes. "Hey. Barry and Iris were-_ are_ like parents to me." He looked over at the control panel. "Barry was more of a father than my real dad ever was, anyway."

Before John could reply, the doors to the elevator opened, and Wally stepped out, the Flash grin once again on his face as walked into the foyer. Pausing for a moment before leaving, John slowly followed.

"Hey, Bart!" Wally looked around the crowded foyer, ducking his head and standing on tip toes to see over the heads of the staff walking around the foyer.

"Uh… Bart?"

He looked back to John and shrugged. He took to the air and surveyed the foyer from above. Seeing no sign of the younger speedster, he looked down at Wally and shook his head.

The Scarlet Speedster sped over to the reception desk, and John floated down to join him.

"Hey, Tina. Have you seen a kid, about yae big, wearing a funky costume with yellow goggles, calls himself Impulse?"

The raven haired receptionist thought for a moment. "Messy brown hair, right?"

"That's him."

"He left a note for his cousin…" she looked up at him, "which I guess is you."

Wally took the note. "Thank you very much, Tina."

"My pleasure. You should come by here more often," she said, winking.

Not quite knowing how to respond to that, Wally just gave a nervous smile and turned around to read the note. He sighed and slapped his hand against his head.

"Oh, great…" he groaned, handing the note to John.

_Hey, Wally. I kinda guessed that the Justice League would say yes, so I thought I'd start patrolling without you. See ya later._

_ Bart._

"C'mon," Wally sighed. "We've gotta stop him before he does something stupid."

He sped out of the Metro Tower, sending various papers flying in the wind. John sighed.

"I don't think he's the only one we should be worried about…"

The Green Lantern of Sector 2814 flew off in pursuit of two speedsters.

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(A/N: A cookie to anyone who saw the reference to the episode 'To Another Shore' that I subtly (as an elephant) shoe-horned into this chapter.

Next chapter: Impulse is loose in Central City. Unfortunately, so is The Top…

Reviews, please.)


	5. Learning New Rules

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited_

_**Rest and Relaxation**_

**_Chapter Five: New Game, New Rules_**

Bart didn't even notice the angered yells of the people of Central City as he sucked their belongings from their person with a gust of wind. Even if he had, he wouldn't have stopped. He was having the time of his life as Impulse.

He smiled as it hit him again.

Bart Allen. Was a superhero.

And he was patrolling his city. _His _city. Okay, _technically_ it was his elder cousin's city, but as far as Bart was concerned, right at that moment, it might as well have been his city. All of his life he had felt slightly restless, as though he should have been doing something else. He had simply thought it some annoying habit of his that was only getting worse as he got older.

But now, he understood. In some unconscious way, Bart _knew _he was going to get these powers, just as he knew now that he was destined to help people. Ever since he was old enough to understand his uncle's police stories and seen superheroes like Superman and the Teen Titans saving the day on a regular basis, he had wanted to help people. Maybe not in this exact way, but now that he had these powers, he wasn't about to complain.

He turned another corner sharply, once again oblivious to the loud protestations of the drivers in their cars. He only stopped when he heard the noise of one car colliding with another. Freezing in his tracks, he turned to look at the wreckage.

"Oops."

He sped over to the two mangled cars. Thankfully, it was only a minor collision and the passengers where out of their vehicles giving him death glares as he approached. Nervously raising his hands, the teenage speedster backed away slowly.

"Heh… sorry about that…"

Bart quickly turned on his heel and sped away, hoping that he would be of some better use elsewhere. As he sped away, he didn't notice the angry shout from a man whose toupee had been blown off.

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"Ooo, that looks nasty."

Flash hissed through his teeth as saw the trail of devastation that had (however unintentionally) been left in Impulse's superspeed wake. Trying to avoid John's accusatory glare, he made his way over to the various bystanders who were collecting up their belongings from the sidewalk.

"Hey guys. Can I help you with that?"

Their faces lit up instantly at the sight of the speedster, all of them crowding around him with questions.

"Oh, Flash, am I glad to see you!"

"There was some kid running about causing trouble; real tiny, snotty looking kid, too."

"Are you kidding? He was about seven feet tall! He was huge!"

"You're both wrong; he was average height, but he had the build of a wrestler."

Flash raised his hands to stop the downpour of information. "Woah, woah, guys, guys… calm down. I just want to know which way he went, and how long ago he passed by."

"A few minutes ago, and that way."

"Yup, pretty much."

"That seems about right, yeah."

Wally's Flash grin shone as he handed some papers to one of the crowd around him. "Thanks guys. You've been a great help. I'll see you later, okay?"

He gave the crowd a wink before turning to GL and indicating the direction in which they needed to go. With an eyebrow seemingly permanently cocked, John flew in pursuit of the speedster as he ran in that direction. Floating alongside him, he made sure he was close enough to Wally so that the speedster could hear what he was saying.

"Since when did you have such a good rapport with the public? Last time I saw you talking to civilians in costume, you were only there to flirt with them."

"Yeah, well… I just thought it was time for a change, y'know?"

John didn't respond right away, taken aback by the maturity of the statement. "So when did this happen?"

"You remember that first year when the League expanded and I wasn't around too much?"

"Yeah?"

"That was when," he said nonchalantly.

John nodded, impressed, and then turned his attention back to the road ahead. As they approached a turning, he saw two cars with their fronts wrapped around each other.

"I think it's safe to say Bart came this way," John said, and Wally smiled.

"I guess this is gonna be more trouble than I thought, huh?"

John sighed as they both turned the corner. "Maybe." John frowned. "I'm more worried about Bart running into the Top."

Wally's eyes widened as he came to a halt. "Now that's a point…" He scratched his chin in thought, looking up and down the street. "This isn't gonna work. By the time we catch up with him, he could be in a world of trouble."

John nodded. "I'll see if I can find him from the sky."

"Aye, skipper," Flash responded, giving him a salute and a wink.

John opened his mouth to tell his speedster friend about how he didn't appreciate Wally's jibes about his military days, but decided against it. The Lantern had given Wally too much damaging information concerning those days anyway. He didn't need Flash getting angry at him and telling everyone is old nickname from before his marine days.

Shuddering at the thought, John just shook his head and took to the sky, looking over the city with glowing emerald eyes.

_Nothing._

Grumbling, he put his hand to his ear piece.

"I've got nothing."

Wally sighed on the other end. _"Well, let's keep on looking. Bart can't keep out of sight forever."_

John brought his hand away from his earpiece. Taking another look around the city, he saw Wally take off down the road in search of his younger cousin. Sighing, he went on his way over the city, scanning the streets as best he could.

Meanwhile on ground level, Wally sped through the streets of Central City without the trademark Flash grin on his face.

"Dammit Bart, where-?"

A high pitched screech interrupted his thoughts, and he quickly made a u-turn in the direction of the scream. He put his fingers to his earpiece.

"John-"

"_Heard it. I'm on my way."_

Flash sped around the corner and into Central City Park, his eyes frantically scanning the area for the source of the noise. An old lady stared up at a tree with concerned eyes, and Wally saw the reason; a white and tan brown cat was up in the tree. After recognising the woman, he sped over, plastering a polite smile on his face.

"Hey, Enid. What's up?"

She turned to him and smiled. "Oh, Flash! Could you get Johnny out of the tree for me?"

He nodded, but paused before climbing up the tree. "How'd he get up there?"

The old lady scowled, a facial expression that seemed out of place on her gentle features. "Some young hooligan as fast as you came shooting through here, scaring Johnny into the tree!"

The speedster sighed and put a hand to his head. "Bart, Bart, Bart…"

"Do you know him?"

"Uh… kinda… lemme just get Johnny down for you."

John landed behind the two, and Enid seemed slightly taken aback by his sudden appearance. She looked up at Wally, who was halfway up the tree, struggling to find a foothold for his left boot.

"Do you know him?" she asked, pointing to John, all the while keeping her eyes on the speedster.

He quickly glanced back and smiled. "Yeah. That's Green Lantern. He's a buddy of mine from the League."

"Oh, I see," she said, grinning. "Pleased to meet you."

John nodded respectfully, not sure what to say to the old woman. "Ma'am."

"Ah! There you go, Johnny." Wally said with satisfaction, now having a firm grasp on the feline.

John frowned. "Huh?"

"What?"

"You said my name."

"No I didn't."

"I distinctly heard you say 'John'."

"No, I said 'Johnny'. It's the cat's name."

He looked down at Enid for confirmation, who nodded with a smile. John grumbled as he crossed his arms, looking out over the park with annoyed eyes.

"O-kay, now let's just… uh… ah… AAAAH!"

John looked up in time to see Wally crashing to the ground, and promptly resisted the urge to seem unprofessional and laugh in the speedster's face. Johnny the cat leapt from Wally's arms and into Enid's, purring contently.

"Thank you, Flash," she said, smiling gratefully at him.

"No problem," he said, dusting himself off as he got to his feet. "Did you see which way the boy went?"

Enid nodded, and pointed to the west side of the Park. With a wink and a grin, Wally turned and prepared himself to speed away, but paused. He turned back to Enid, a polite smile on his face.

"Say, Enid. Do you always call him Johnny?"

"Well, I call him John sometimes, but only when he's been a bad kitty."

Visibly fighting for control of the smile threatening to spread over his face, Wally just nodded. "Huh. I see. Well, thank you Enid." He looked over at John and winked. "Come on, Johnny," Wally said, breaking into a fit of giggles as he sped away.

John sighed and shook his head, a scowl working its way on to his face. Enid leaned over to talk to him.

"Isn't he wonderful? He must be nice to work with."

"Oh yeah. He's a real hoot."

After a polite nod to Enid, John activated a green field of energy around his body and took off in pursuit of the speedster, who was still giggling away as he ran back into the City.

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"I think he's been here, too."

John floated down to the ground beside Wally, cocking an eyebrow at the newspaper stand before them. Said newspaper vendor was irritably picking up magazines and newspapers that had been strewn about the sidewalk, as though a strong gust of wind had come through.

"You think?" John said, cocking an eyebrow.

Wally put up his hands defensively. "Hey, hey. It's not like it's _my _fault that Bart got super speed."

John looked over at the speedster, his expression a complete portrait of disbelief.

_All right, that's it._

"Not your fault? Flash, you saw the storm clouds coming towards the building on an otherwise sunny day. You wheeled the _same _chemicals that gave you your powers to the _same _window where you were stood when lightning struck you. _Then_, you lead Bart over there, where - and here's the surprise – he got struck by lightning! Tell me, how is this _not _your fault?"

Flash paused, his face unreadable. Suddenly, he smiled, letting out a fond sigh. "I've missed this."

"Missed what?"

"_This," _Wally emphasised with a grin, wagging his finger back and forth between the two of them. "You, yelling at me for doing stupid stuff. We never do that anymore."

John crossed his arms. "I think Shayera's taken over that position…"

Wally smiled and nodded. "Oh, so _that's_ what this is about…"

"What?"

"I thought you came here because of Shayera and that Hawkman guy."

"I- no I didn't."

"I know. You're here because of me."

John scowled. "What?"

"It's like a custody battle kinda thing. You and Shayera broke up, and now you're fighting over me. It's sweet, really, but I gotta say, it's kinda weird."

John's face contorted into several different emotions, as though he were trying on different expressions for size.

"But I didn't come for that!"

Wally smiled, obviously enjoying this. "John, John… it's okay. I'm likeable kind of guy. It's okay for you to want to keep me around."

John struggled to find the correct words to express his feelings as his rage choked him.

"But- I-! You…! He-! What…! I-!"

Wally's smile disappeared as he put a finger to his lips. "Shhhh."

John was instantly silent as his ears perked up, searching for the noise that Wally had detected. Hearing nothing, he looked at the speedster incredulously.

"What?"

Wally put his fingers to his lips and then raised it before his face in a 'wait a minute' gesture. Slowly but surely, John began to hear the noise of… _something _approaching. Wally crept to the edge of the sidewalk and peeked around the corner to look down the street on their right.

Pulling his head back quickly, he gestured for John to get ready.

"It's him. Get ready to catch him."

John's expression grew slightly concerned. "_Catch _him? Why, what are you going to-?"

Before he could continue, Wally darted into the middle of the street, his leg extended outwards. The approaching blur or Impulse tripped up on Wally's leg and went flying into the air. Using honed reflexes, John activated his ring and caught the young speedster in a bubble of green energy.

Bart shook his head to reorient himself.

"Hey, what the-?"

He looked down and saw John and Wally, both of them with displeased looks on their faces.

"Hey guys. How'd the meeting go?"

Wally scowled, and it was something new for John to see. Sure, he had seen Flash's 'I hate you for saying something embarrassing' glare, but this was a totally different type. This looked like a Superman 'I'm going to ground Kara to the farm for a year' glare.

If he was honest, it scared him a little bit.

"The meeting went fine. They said you could stay here and work with me," Wally said, and Bart pumped the air in triumph. "…though I'm beginning to think that was a bad idea."

Bart's face fell. "Huh? Why?"

"Why? Look!" Wally said, gesturing to the newspaper vendor on the street corner. "I've seen cats scared up trees, important business files that peoples' _jobs _depend on thrown all over the place, and car crashes! _Car crashes_! People could have been killed!"

"Uh… well-"

Wally looked over to John and nodded at him to let Bart out of the bubble. John lowered him to the ground and then removed the bubble. Sheepishly, the costumed hero Impulse made his way over to John and Wally, both of them with their arms folded in front of them like disapproving parents.

"Hey, I was only trying to help," he said, though sounding increasingly unsure of himself as he spoke.

Wally sighed. "I know, Bart. But you've got to _think _before you do this stuff. If we go too fast, we cause all kinds of trouble without even noticing. That's okay if there's some emergency somewhere, but you've still gotta be careful. When I can, I stick to the rules of the road."

John cocked an eyebrow. "So you stop at traffic lights?"

Wally shrugged. "Yeah, sure. If it's just a patrol."

Despite finding the image of Wally jogging on the spot at traffic lights highly amusing, John resolved to remain silent.

Bart looked down to the ground sheepishly. "I guess this means I won't be your sidekick, huh?"

Wally sighed and knelt before his younger cousin. "Look, Bart… I just think you need a little more practice before you're put out on the streets by yourself."

"But if I'm with you, I won't be by myself."

"I'm not always gonna be here, Bart. I might be away with the League, or the Ti-"

Wally stopped in mid-sentence and grinned. John looked at him curiously, mirroring Bart's expression of confusion.

"Flash?"

Wally looked over at John. "Watson, I just had a _splendid_ idea."

Bart and John waited for some kind of elaboration, and when none came, decided to intervene.

"Well?" they asked simultaneously, knocking Wally from whatever reverie he had sucked himself into. He shook his head and looked at the two.

"Sorry. Yeah, Impulse could join the-"

An explosion from downtown cut him off yet again, and drew their attention to a plume of smoke in the distance. Wally stood to his full height, keeping his eyes on the billowing smoke.

"Top," Wally said, though he had no way of knowing for certain. John nodded and powered up the aura around his body, taking off for the scene of the crime.

Wally turned to Bart. "We'll talk about it later. Right now, I want you to go to my apartment and stay there, okay?"

"But I can help-"

"Bart, _please_. If something happened to you…" Wally paused. "Well, I wouldn't want that to happen. Okay?"

Impulse sighed. "All right," he mumbled, kicking up some dirt from the sidewalk.

With a satisfied nod, the Flash turned and headed towards the source of the explosion, quickly disappearing from view.

Bart smiled. "He said to go back to his apartment… he didn't say _when _I had to go back to his apartment."

And with that, the Fastest Boy Alive followed his elder cousin to the battle.

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John cleared the roof of a skyscraper and saw the explanation for the explosion. An overturned police car was churning out thick black smoke as the two previous occupants of the vehicle lay unconscious on the ground next to it.

Seeing the culprit responsible spinning out of the way of police weapons fire, John scowled and made his way down to ground level. Top managed to incapacitate the offending police officers before John encased the spinning villain in a green bubble, who instantly stopped to look at him, a curious smirk on his face.

"Ah. I'd heard you were in town. 'Bunking in' with the Flash or some such, I suppose?"

John didn't reply.

"Ah-ha, very good. Never let your enemy disorient you with inane chatter." He looked down at the ground and traced up to where John was stood. He let out an impressed grunt. "You must know about my new ability; you've put yourself far away, hoping to put yourself out of range."

His smirk intensified. "Nice try."

John's firm scowl became a grimace of displeasure as his world was tipped upside down, his stomach contents begging to tip up with it. His concentration lost, the bubble around the Top faded to nothing, and the villain grinned maliciously.

Turning faster and faster until he became a miniature tornado of green and yellow, the Top charged forward and slammed into John, tossing him aside like a rag doll. Unable to focus, John couldn't put up a force field in time to shield him from the impact against the wall. Still conscious, John managed to throw up his lunch before he saw the Top approaching again, closing in for the kill.

A red blur slammed into the spinning Top, sending him hurtling off to the side. Wally came to a halt in front of John.

"You okay?"

John groaned and nodded, still struggling to get to his feet. Wally nodded in response and charged towards Top again.

Going into a spin, Top managed to divert Flash as he reached him, tossing him into the wall of the building opposite. Wally quickly recovered and turned to face the Top.

"What's the matter, Top? No hoity-toity upper class 'I'm better than you' crap?"

The villain smirked. "Not today."

Wally shrugged and charged forward again. A familiar bout of nausea suddenly overcame the speedster, causing him to trip and fall, skidding across the street until he came to a halt in front of the still recovering John. Top walked towards the two, confident in his victory.

"You see… _this _is why I am better than Cold and Mirror Master and the others. They couldn't beat _two _of the original seven Leaguers. They couldn't even beat _you_," he said, looking down at Flash with disdain.

"Hey, I'm a pretty impressive superhero. It's not a _bad _thing they couldn't beat me. Even _you _couldn't beat me, Dillon. And you still haven't."

The Top ground his teeth, effectively distracted enough so that John could put his plan into action. Silently praying for Wally to keep up the chatter, John tried his utmost to concentrate through the spinning and blurring perceptions his eyes were feeding him.

"In fact, I have to say you're the easiest one to beat most of the time!"

Using his ring, John aimed at a fire hydrant on the other side of the street. Slowly wrapping a beam of light around the fire hydrant, he got to work pulling it from the sidewalk to which it was attached.

"Hey, stripey!"

Top turned to see Impulse stood up the street, his hands on his hips. Wally buried his head in his hands.

"Oh no…"

Distracted, Top's powers waned slightly, giving John and Wally a brief respite from the waves of nausea that were once pounding through them. Using all the strength he could muster, John wrenched the fire hydrant from the sidewalk and tossed it at the Top.

Unfortunately, the Top had begun walking towards Bart just as John tossed the hydrant, accidentally managing to avoid it completely as it passed behind his back and into the wall above Wally and John. They both covered their heads as they were sprayed in dust and chunks of brick.

Wally coughed irritably. "A _fire hydrant? That_ was your big plan?"

John coughed back, scowling at the speedster. "I didn't see you coming up with anything better."

"I could have done better than a freakin' fire hydrant!"

"I-"

The bickering heroes were cut off by another bout of nausea and dizziness, hatefully administered by the smirking Top, who had taken to completely ignoring Impulse.

"Hey! Buddy!"

Top turned in time to be see a white and red blur slamming into him at full speed, knocking him backwards. Bart came to a halt next to the downed Wally and John, who were still recovering from the vicious attack from the Top.

Impulse sucked up his fear with a deep breath and charged towards the recovering Top, who was struggling to his feet. Top held up his hand.

"Spin."

The entire world went upside down, and Bart went off course, running headlong into a parked car behind the Top. The villain turned on his heel, smirking the entire time as he continued to send wave after wave of nausea through the teenager.

"The Fastest _Man _Alive couldn't beat me. Why would you think the Fastest _Boy _Alive could? Who do you think you are? Kid Flash?"

"I'm… Impulse…"

Top laughed derisively. "'Impulse'? What kind of idiotic name is that?" He turned to Flash and Green Lantern, who were trying to get to their feet, and once again manipulated their perceptions, dropping them to the floor.

"Did you two give him that name? Hilarious!" He turned back to Bart.

"At least the original Kid Flash was doing it out of respect. What are you being Impulse for? Kicks?"

Bart struggled off the front of the chewed up car, landing in a crouch. He attempted to get to his feet, and fell backwards. Top smiled, waving his hand dismissively.

"Don't even try. I can bend and twist the way your retinas interpret light rays. Effectively…"

He knelt down in front of the struggling teenage speedster. "…I can turn your world upside down… and inside out."

Bart froze as something occurred to him.

…_the way my eyes interpret light rays…_

Suddenly, Impulse stood to his full height.

Wally and John frowned in confusion, sharing the Top's slowly panicking expression. He tried to send another wave through the boy, with no result.

He backed up as Bart took a step forward. Wally grinned.

"He closed his eyes…"

John looked over at Wally. "What?"

"Top's messing with the way our eyes interpret the stuff around us. So if we close our eyes…"

John paused. "I'm feeling pretty stupid right now," he sighed.

"Ditto," Wally replied, closing his eyes and getting to his feet.

The Top's eyes widened. "What… how are you…"

Bart smirked. "Buddy, I'm being Impulse because I want to be. Because I want to help people. I'm a superhero now. And guess what superheroes do, buddy."

Bart leapt up and kicked out with his right leg, knocking Top in the chin with his boot. He stumbled back, disoriented. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned in time to see a gloved red fist, soon replaced with blackness.

The three heroes steadily opened their eyes, and breathed a collective sigh of relief when they saw the Top unconscious on the floor. Acting quickly, John encased him in a bubble of green energy.

"I'll take him to jail before he wakes up."

Wally nodded. "Take him to Iron Heights; they'll be able to handle him there."

"Right." John looked over to Impulse, who was still looking down at the Top in amazement. "You did good, kid."

He flew away, taking the villain with him. Wally put a hand on the shell-shocked speedster's shoulder.

"C'mon. I've got an iced mocha at my place with your name on it."

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Bart sipped contentedly on his iced mocha, happy to be out of costume, at least for the moment. John had returned about half an hour after they had arrived at Wally's apartment, and seemed equally happy to put on some normal clothes.

Not to mention the compulsory iced mocha.

"They've got a special cell rigged up for the Top; he won't be escaping any time soon."

Wally shrugged. "He'll get out eventually. They always do. But at least we know how to fight him now." He put a hand on Bart's shoulder, who was sat down on the sofa. "Thanks to my new partner there."

Bart's eyes lit up. "You're kidding."

"Nope," Wally replied, shaking his head. "You pretty much proved you can handle yourself, just with a bit more practice. But, I do have _one _condition."

Bart's face fell. "What?"

"You have to join the Teen Titans for training."

Bart seemed to take this as a punishment at first, but then his face came back up again. Then went back to sadness, then happiness again. Finally, he settled on confusion.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Well, you've got Cyborg teaching you, so that's good. But you've got Beast Boy teaching you too, to that's bad. It's kinda both."

Bart seemed slightly ambivalent. John cocked an eyebrow.

"Something wrong, kid? I know plenty of people who would love to join the Titans."

"Well, I was just wondering about something."

Wally prepared himself for the worst.

"The Top said that Kid Flash was doing the superhero stuff out of respect for the Flash. And, since _you_ were Kid Flash, then…"

Wally could see where this was going.

"…was my dad the Flash?"

The Scarlet Speedster anxiously scratched the back of his head. "Well, I uh- that's a uh-"

"Yes. I was."

Everyone in the room turned to see Barry Allen stood in the doorway, his wife Iris by his side.

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(A/N: Yes, it was a rather simplistic way to stop the Top, and yes, it _does _make John and Wally look slightly stupid, but hey – it's lifted straight from the comics, and it worked there! Besides, I wanted to highlight the simplistic and IMPULSEive way that Bart solves things.

Next chapter: The Flash family discuss all past, present and future Flashes while John looks on in complete and utter confusion.

I like reviews.)


	6. History Lesson

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Rest and Relaxation**_

_**Chapter Six: History Lesson**_

John cocked an eyebrow at the man and woman stood in the doorway. Wally smiled and stood as Bart shot forward to the two, obviously glad to see them.

"Hey Mom. Hey Dad."

Barry looked down at his son, a kind smile on his face. "I hear you've been getting in some trouble with The Top."

Bart smiled sheepishly. "Well, uh…"

"Totally my fault," Wally said, stepping forward and hugging the two. "Come in, come in," he said, gesturing for them to enter as he closed the door behind them.

They both took a seat at the sofa with their son, provoking an awkward silence between them and John.

"So…" the Green Lantern said, not sure how to introduce himself.

Wally slapped his hand to his head and grinned. "Oh! Sorry. Uncle Barry, Aunt Iris, this is John Stewart. John, this is my Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris."

Barry reached forward with a smile on his face. "The Green Lantern."

John was about to be surprised, but then remembered who this man had once been. Iris turned to face Wally, who had his arms crossed with a grin on his face.

"How've you been, kiddo?"

"Pretty good. That lab assistant job seems to be getting closer and closer."

Barry smiled proudly. "That's great."

Bart cleared his throat. "Excuse me, but… you were just telling me about how you used to be the Flash?"

"Oh. Yes," Barry replied, a sheepish look crossing his face. "Well, I got my powers much the same way you and Wally did. In fact, Jay and I think that half the reason you got your powers-"

John raised an inquisitive hand. "I'm sorry. Who's Jay?"

"The first Flash."

"I thought you were the first Flash."

"No, I'm the second Flash. Jay's the first Flash."

"Who's Jay?" John said, a hint of frustration in his voice.

"Jay Garrick. He fought in World War Two. You might have heard of him."

John just shrugged. "I always thought that Wally was the only Flash until you were mentioned."

Barry smiled. "That's understandable. Both Jay and I kept a pretty low profile. He's still around now, though he doesn't do much superhero work; only in emergency situations. He helped out during the Thanagarian crisis, if I remember right. Anyway," he said, shaking his head, "back on the subject. We were both low profile, trying to keep out of the public eye. Not that it made much of a difference to me, considering the amount of time I was around. If I'm honest, I couldn't have been the Flash for more than a year and a half before I lost my powers."

Bart leant forward, completely engrossed. "You lost your powers?"

Barry nodded. "Yes. You see, when I got my powers, Central City and Keystone City were under siege by a pretty vicious motorcycle gang. They killed a lot of good cops. When I got my powers, people thought that it was just another bombing, and I didn't see any reason to tell them otherwise."

"The perfect cover…" John added, stroking his beard.

"Exactly. I became the Flash, and Wally was struck by lightning pretty soon after, turning him into Kid Flash."

Wally sat on a stool by the kitchen counter, and Iris got up to the join him.

"However," Barry began, his expression darkening considerably, "there was one man who knew that it wasn't a bombing; who saw me when I was struck by lightning and doused in chemicals. My lab assistant, Eobard Thawne. For reasons I never knew, he hated me with a vengeance, and upon deducing that I was the Flash, he set about to recreate the incident which gave me my powers. It worked, and be became Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash."

Bart's eyes widened. "Was his costume like… a reverse version of the normal Flash costume? With yellow where the red should be, and red where the yellow should be?"

"How did you know that?" Barry asked, his face slightly cautious.

"Well… when I got struck by lightning, I saw him. Or at least, for a little while."

Barry nodded, deep in thought. "That could prove the theory…" he said absent-mindedly.

"What theory?" Bart asked.

"Never mind. I'll finish the story first, and then I'll explain it to you. Where was I? Right, right… Thawne and I were evenly matched, and…" he cast a troubled look over in Iris's direction, "…he tried to kill Iris on our wedding day. But as we ran, I saw that Thawne was beginning to disappear the faster he went. And so was I. But I managed… by thinking of your mother… to stay in this plane of existence. Thawne became part of what we now know is called the… Speed Force?" he said, looking over at Wally for confirmation.

The redheaded speedster nodded, and Barry continued.

"I lost my powers that day, and stopped being the Flash."

"Where was Wally during all of this?" John asked, his question more curious than accusatory.

"I was at Gotham State U. I had no idea what was going on until I got a phone call from Iris," Wally said, looking over at his aunt with a slightly haunted expression. There was something about those days that Wally wasn't particularly proud of, but John decided to leave it alone for another day.

Barry nodded. "After that, Iris and I moved to Keystone, and Wally became the Flash."

Bart frowned. "What were you saying earlier… about that theory?"

"Oh, yes. We were theorising – and this is _just _a theory, mind you – that my powers were somehow… _moved _by the Speed Force from me to you. Since you saw Thawne when you were struck by lightning, and that was the last thing _I_ saw when I had my powers, that seems to add some credibility to the theory."

"So… I've got your powers?"

"In essence, yes."

Bart was silent for a moment.

"Cool."

Iris sighed loudly from where she sat beside Wally. "Well. Now that _that's _out of the way, why don't we talk about something else. Like, oh, I don't know," she turned to Bart, "_you _nearly getting yourself killed," she turned to Wally, "_you _giving him these powers in the first place," she turned to John, "and _you…_" she paused for a moment. "Actually, you didn't do anything. You poor guy, having to deal with Bart _and _Wally with superspeed."

John groaned loudly and fell back into his chair. "It wasn't easy."

Iris grinned. "I'll bet."

Barry looked at Bart. "Your mother's right. We need to talk about what you intend to do."

The teenage speedster fidgeted nervously. "Well… uh… I was thinking that I could maybe, kinda, sorta… stay here with Wally and fight crime?" he said, wincing at the expected response.

The ex-Flash sighed and rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses. He looked back over his shoulder at Iris pleadingly. Bart's mother leaned forward to address her son.

"Bart…we just think that you're not ready for this just yet."

"But Wally said I could go and train with the Teen Titans!"

Bart's parents shot accusatory glares at Wally, who shrunk in his chair, laughing nervously.

"Uh… … that wasn't _me_… that was… that is… I'm gonna get something out of the fridge."

And with that, Wally darted behind the kitchen counter and buried his head in the fridge, although he had no idea what he was looking for.

Barry and Iris turned back to Bart.

"It's not just about the danger to you," Barry added. "After all, Wally became Kid Flash at about the same age. But there's also the matter of you missing out on school because of your superhero antics. Wally got into enough trouble at school for running out in the middle of classes to help me or work with the Titans."

"Actually…" Wally's head popped up from the fridge, his mouth full of various snacks. "…Titans Tower is a certified school now, so you don't have to worry about…" Wally trailed off as he saw the death glares coming from his aunt and uncle.

"Uh… I'm just gonna…" he pointed to fridge. "Yeah."

Barry and Iris once again turned back to Bart, who was now looking at them with puppy dog pleading eyes.

"C'mon… the Titans are perfect for me… and it's not like I can just ignore my powers."

Barry sighed and looked over at Iris, who just shrugged in resignation. Running a hand through his greying blonde hair, Barry nodded.

"All right, all right… you can join the Titans."

Bart pumped his fist in the air in triumph, and Wally stood back up to his full height, now believing himself safe. Iris turned to him, pointing a warning finger.

"But you'd better take good care of him, kiddo. You get me?"

Wally nodded vehemently. "Yes ma'am."

Bart paused for a moment and turned to Barry, Iris, and Wally. "Uh… there's just… _one _more thing I'd like to ask you guys…"

The three looked at each other warily.

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John wasn't sure why he had come along to this. He just felt awkward, sat around with Wally's family like this as they chatted amongst themselves. They were all sat in a row facing a door, waiting for Bart to make his entrance. John looked out the window over the city of Metropolis, still marvelling at the views the Metro Tower offered.

"So," a voice said, and John turned to see Barry Allen facing him. "You're the Green Lantern, eh?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know Hal Jordan?"

John cocked an eyebrow and smiled. "Who on Oa _doesn't _know who Hal Jordan is?"

Barry smiled in understanding. "No, but I mean, do you _know _him? Personally, that is."

"Ah, no. He was the Lantern for this sector _way _before I came along. He retired, didn't he?"

"From being a Lantern, anyway. He's with the air force now."

John nodded. "I take it you know him?"

"We teamed up a few times before we both left the business. I handed over the reigns to Wally and Hal handed them over to Abin Sur."

John sighed. "That didn't last too long, I'm afraid."

"I heard," Barry said, nodding. "Sinestro must have thought he was Hal. Hal was the first Green Lantern to defeat him, you know," he said, a certain measure of pride coming through his voice.

"Sinestro seems to have a weakness against the human Lanterns," John said, smiling. "That count has gone up to three."

"So you've beaten him."

John nodded. "Me and this other kid, Kyle Rayner. He's off training with the Corps."

The ex-Flash nodded as he took in the surroundings. They were in the R&R room of the Metro Tower, although most of the members were on duty. Booster Gold and Blue Beetle were the only other people in the room, in fact, though they were engrossed in their game of 'Brawlin' Bots'.

"I certainly never imagined anything like this when I started out," Barry said wistfully.

"I think what you guys did was even more impressive, in a lot of ways," John said, meaning every word.

Barry shook his head. "We were just a few guys trying to make a difference. This…" he said, gesturing around the room, "…_this _is fantastic. I'm just honoured and proud that Wally was one of the people who started it all." He smiled. "I can only imagine what the others thought of him."

John grinned. "He certainly grabbed everyone's attention."

"He's always been like that. He's gotten better, though, don't you think?"

"Sometimes yes, sometimes no," John said, and Barry laughed.

"That sounds about right."

The door opened, and the group stopped their respective conversations to turn towards the doorway. In it stood Bart, who was now in a new costume.

A Kid Flash costume.

It was very similar to the one Wally had worn back in his Titans days, except there was now a circle around the lightning bolt around his chest, much like on Wally's Flash costume. The colours were different than the old Kid Flash costume, too. Bart had opted for the same darker, inverted colour scheme that Wally had on his Flash costume.

Wally nodded in approval. "Hey, you used my colour scheme… nice."

"Looks good on you," Iris added. Barry, meanwhile, was frowning. Iris nudged him in the shoulder.

"It's great, it's just…" he sighed. "Did you have to go for the rim lit look? It makes you look all shiny."

Bart, unaffected by his father's comments, just grinned. "I like it shiny. It looks cool. Besides, if I'm running next to Wally, I've gotta match, right?"

Wally winked at his sidekick. "Right."

They all looked to John, who had yet to comment on the costume. He had no idea why they were looking to him for an opinion; he wasn't even part of this family, why would it concern him?

"It's… nice…?" John said unsurely, his confused and forced tone of voice making Wally burst out laughing.

Bart just put his hands on his hips, a proud grin on his face.

_I'm on my way to the top._

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As John looked out over the ocean from the roof of Titans Tower, he had to marvel at the view, even as he remembered thinking the same thing about the Metro Tower earlier that day.

It probably helped that it was sunset; that always made things seem more idealistic and romantic. Although John was the exception to that rule. One of the most painful experiences of his life happened at sunset. A part of him loved the colours and the atmosphere of a sunset, but the other…

He shook his head free of such thoughts as the door opened and Cyborg and Beast Boy stepped forth, making their way over to them. Barry and Iris had gone home, but not before the ex-Flash had invited John over to meet Hal when he had some free time. John had accepted, being honoured at the prospect.

Cyborg smiled, and John saw that it was something that looked natural on his face. He was the kind of person where a frown would look out of place on his features. Looking over at Beast Boy, John got the strongest sense of déjà vu, and quickly understood why when he grinned.

Beast Boy and Wally had the same grin. The grin of someone who was fully aware of how cheesy and stupid the grin made them look, but didn't care.

Cyborg extended his hand to Wally, who shook it enthusiastically. "Hey man. How are you?"

Wally shrugged. "Eh. The usual. You?"

"Ditto." He turned to Bart, who was stood in awe of the two heroes stood before him. "And you're Bart?"

Bart, dressed in his full Kid Flash costume, simply stood, dumbfounded. Wally nudged him, and Bart shook himself out of his reverie.

"Uh…yeah, that's me."

"Good to meet ya," Beast Boy said, extending his hand. Bart warily took it, obviously still disbelieving that he was shaking hands with THE Beast Boy of THE Teen Titans. "I hope you're not gonna be as much trouble as he was," the changeling said, the small fang on his bottom lip giving him an almost elf like appearance; it didn't help to change John's impression of him being like Wally.

Cyborg and Beast Boy looked over at Green Lantern, the former offering a nod and the latter a cheery wave.

John nodded back in response. "Hey."

"So," Wally said, clapping his hands together loudly and rubbing them together, "what's gonna happen now?"

"Well, since he's _your_ sidekick, you need to fill out some forms. His parents will have to fill some out, too, but you can get those back here pretty quick, can't you?" Cyborg said, a wry smile on his face. "I'll just go get them."

The man-machine turned on his heel and walked to the door, leaving the four alone. Wally and Beast Boy soon got into an animated discussion that led to the pros and cons of different gaming techniques for _Mega Monkeys Five_.

John turned to Bart. "How're you feeling, kid?"

The young speedster blew out a shaky breath. "Pretty nervous. I've got no idea what to expect."

"You'll do fine."

Bart looked up at him and smiled. "Coming from you, that means a lot."

"It does? Why?"

Bart shrugged and nodded over to Wally, who was laughing hysterically with Beast Boy. "Well… I look up to him. Even before I knew he was the Flash, I though he was pretty cool. And… he looks up to you, so I get the feeling I should too."

John scrunched up his face. "What? Wally doesn't look up to me."

Bart laughed. "Uh, yeah. He does."

"Have you _seen _the way he talks to me?"

"That's just his way of covering it. It's _so _obvious that he looks up to you. Haven't you ever noticed?"

"Well… I…" John sighed. "I'm not exactly the most observant guy in the world when it comes to that stuff."

Bart laughed quietly. "That figures."

The two were silent for a moment. John turned to Bart.

"Can I ask you something?"

Bar shrugged. "Shoot."

"Why'd you change from being Impulse to Kid Flash?"

"I…" he sighed. "a few reasons. When I was in that costume, you guys treated me like I was an idiot who didn't know what he was doing. And I didn't. I still don't, but I want to start learning seriously about this stuff, and I can't do that if I'm acting like an impulsive moron all the time, y'know?"

"And the other reason?"

"My dad's the Flash. I kinda felt like I would be disrespecting him if I didn't. And, like I said, I look up to Wally. I'm kinda flattered that he wanted me to use his old name."

John nodded slowly and smiled, looking down at the boy stood next to him. "You're well on your way, Bart."

"Thanks," he said, his smile turning into a smirk. "Besides, the Kid Flash costume shows off my butt more."

John shook his head, the smile still on his face. "Naturally."

Cyborg emerged from the doorway with the necessary forms and a pen, and gestured for Wally to follow.

"Let's get these babies filled in, shall we?"

Wally zoomed forward and took the pen, putting the forms on Cyborg's back. The speedster ignored the half robot's protestations as he filled in the forms faster than the eye could see. In a few seconds, he was done.

He walked to the edge of the Tower with two forms still in hand.

"I'll just go and get the signatures, and then you guys can get started," he said, putting his hand to his ear.

"One for the Watchtower, if you please."

He disappeared in a blur of white-ish blue light, and Beast Boy's eyes bulged.

"Dude! Why don't we have one of those?" he said, looking over at Cyborg.

"'Cause you'd break it, BB."

"I so would not."

"You so would too."

"Would not."

"Too."

"Not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

"Not!"

"Too- hey! That's not funny!"

Cyborg chuckled to himself. "Oh, I'm sorry, I was under the impression it was." He turned to Bart. "Was that funny?"

"Yep."

He looked back at his changeling friend. "See? And he knows. He's the cousin of the one of the biggest pranksters this Tower's ever seen."

Bart cocked an eyebrow. "Really?"

John sighed. "Kid, that shouldn't really surprise you."

Cyborg looked over at John. "Does he still do that thing where he shouts-"

"-something offensive and runs away? Oh yeah."

John remembered hearing about one such particular incident. Flash was eating with Booster Gold and shouted 'thong!' as Gypsy walked by, who's thong was unfortunately (and unwittingly) on display. Gypsy turned around, and Booster Gold was left to fend for himself. John shuddered at the memory. Booster was in the medical bay for about a week, and not entirely because of the injuries.

A blue-white light appeared, and the Flash emerged. He walked over to Cyborg and handed over the forms.

"There you go." He walked over to Bart. "Have fun. I'm uh…" he shuffled sheepishly on his feet. "…I'm glad you decided to be Kid Flash. I, uh… it's… cool of you."

Bart nodded and smiled, offering a small salute. "No problem."

Wally and John took up their positions, and John put his hand to his earpiece to signal for a pickup. Wally waved to Cyborg and Beast Boy.

"See you guys later. Say hi to the others for me!"

"Will do," Cyborg said, nodding.

As the two de-materialised, Wally could see Beast Boy putting his arm around Bart while Cyborg carried the young speedster's suitcase downstairs.

"So, Bart. Do you like tofu waffles?"

Wally wondered if Bart could hear him laughing.

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The distant cracks of pool balls hitting pool balls filled the air, along with the general murmur of the bar. Wally smiled as their beers arrived.

"Ah… I've been itching for one of these since this whole thing started." He turned to John, lifting his glass mug of beer. "Cheers."

John nodded. "Cheers."

The two sipped in comfortable silence, looking up at the sports game playing on the TV overhead and around the smoky bar, waiting for a free pool table.

"So," Wally said gently, turning his attention back to his friend. "What _is_ going on with you and Shayera?"

John looked over at Wally, though there was none of the irritation that Wally was expecting. John just sighed.

"It's complicated."

"Okay," Wally said expectantly, rotating his hand in a 'continue talking' motion.

John sighed again. "I'm with Vixen, right? I should be happy with that. And I am, but…" he paused for a moment, then turned his entire body to face Wally. "Do you remember when Batman and I went into the future?"

"I remember you telling us about it."

"Right. But… there was something I left out. When we were in the future, we met… my son. Mine and Shayera's."

Wally's pale blue eyes widened. "Woah…"

John nodded. "Yeah."

"Does Shayera know?"

"No, and you're not going to tell her. I need to figure out what to do first. It's just that… I didn't know what to do then, and I _still _don't now, especially since this Carter Hall guy came along talking about destiny and reincarnation."

"But… you don't believe in that stuff, do you?" Wally asked, a sceptical eyebrow raised.

"Of course not. It's just… is that future _supposed _to happen? Or was it part of Chronos' time jumping mess? Am I denying him life by not being with Shayera? Do I have any right to do that?" John groaned in frustration. "God… a guy could go crazy thinking about this."

"Then don't think about it," Wally said simply. "Go with your feelings. What feels right to you? Vixen… or Shayera?"

John was silent.

"Hey, Mac, table three's open," the bartender said, interrupting their conversation. Wally nodded.

"Okay, thanks." He got up and paused as John didn't move. "John? You coming?"

"Uh…" John shook himself from his thoughts. "…yeah, yeah, I'm, uh… I'm coming… yeah."

Wally grinned as he picked up the cue. "We placing bets on this game?"

John, quickly recovering from the heavy nature of the last conversation, allowed a small smile. "I think you lost enough money during the hockey game."

"Hey, that was luck, and nothing more."

"Yeah… luck that repeated itself, what… sixteen times?"

Wally smirked good-naturedly and tossed John a cue. "Well you're goin' down now, amigo."

"What a vivid imagination you have," John said, setting down his beer and setting up the break. He paused for a moment, never once taking his eyes of the table. "Thanks, Wally."

"Any time."

John broke, and potted several striped balls.

"Oh, you're _so _cheating. Give me that ring."

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(A/N: Well, well… the beginning of the end. Not to worry though, I've got another (I hope) crackin' Flash story coming up, this time with Hawkman guest starring.

I hope I made the whole Flash history thing clear enough; I was trying to make it seem detailed enough without it seeming like Barry was telling them his whole life story.

Next chapter: Thursday has arrived – and you know what that means…

I like reviews.)


	7. New Game, New Rules

Disclaimer: I don't own _Justice League Unlimited._

_**Rest and Relaxation**_

_**Chapter Seven: New Game, New Rules**_

Bart was struggling to remember a time when he was more bored. He stifled another yawn as Cyborg once again went over the equation for finding speed. It was distance times time, or something like that. He had told them enough times, Bart would have thought it would be stuck in his head by now. For what seemed like the hundredth time, the young speedster wondered why he was so excited about coming here in the first place.

_Because you thought you'd be kicking superhero butt all the time. I bet Wally never had to do this._

The end of period bell chimed, and Bart excitedly got to his feet, along with Robin and Speedy.

Cyborg seemed to be relieved to be finished, too. "Okay, guys. Homework is to write up a summary of chapters 14 and 15. And Robin; no smartass replies like last time, okay?"

The black and red clad hero winked at Cyborg before leaving. After the kids had left the room, Cyborg sighed, flopping into his chair. It was hard enough when they were teaching _just _Robin. Now they had two more students, and one on the way. He wasn't having a fun day.

Bart and Robin sat on the sofa as they drank their sodas, looking out over the city. Speedy was in the kitchen, fetching herself a drink.

Bart looked over at Robin. "What did you write for your last report?"

"'Chapters 9 and 10: stuff happens'," Robin quoted grandly, and Bart laughed.

Speedy's mug made a noise at it reached the counter. The young speedster looked over at her. On the surface, her costume didn't seem very much like the male Speedy that Bart remembered seeing on T.V. But once she removed the Raven-like hood and cloak for battle, her costume was almost a spitting image.

"What's she like?" Bart asked quietly, nodding over at her.

"Quiet."

"Really? 'Cause I've met Green Arrow, and he didn't-"

"Wait wait. You've _met _Green Arrow?"

"Yeah, when Flash took me to the Metro Tower."

"You've been to the _Tower? _Ah, that's not fair."

"What's not fair?" a quiet voice enquired, and the two looked over to see Speedy sitting down on a chair next to them. Robin pointed at Bart.

"He's been to the Metro Tower," he said, the words almost sounding like an accusation.

She sighed. "Lucky. Ollie never takes me to anything League related."

"Neither does Batman. What's it like?"

"Oh, it's so damn _big_. I mean, you look at this place," he said, gesturing to the room around them, "and it's _big_, sure, but nothing like the Metro Tower."

"I hope I'll get to see it someday," Robin said, and Speedy nodded.

"Yeah, if only to meet all the people Ollie's always talking about."

The two continued to discuss their respective mentors, and Bart felt himself disappear from the conversation. He bore no ill will towards them for doing it, but still – it didn't feel good to be left out.

"Guys…"

Bart turned to look at the doorway behind them, where Beast Boy and Starfire were stood. The green changeling tapped his foot impatiently, his arms crossed.

"Guys…"

Robin and Speedy continued chattering away.

"DUDES! Shut up!"

The two clammed up and looked over at him.

"Thank you," he said, nodding. "We've seen you guys take in KF here, and I gotta say, it's great the way you guys didn't push him away or anything."

Bart smiled at the two. Robin gave him a wink, while Speedy just have him a polite nod.

"And with that said, I'd like to… oh. You wanted to do this, didn't you?" he said, looking over at Starfire.

Starfire stepped forward. Bart tried to keep his eyes locked on her face. When Wally had told him about the Titans, he hadn't told him anything about the vicious attack on his hormones that would be Starfire. He was still having trouble with it now. Robin had told him that Nightwing and Starfire were 'close', and Bart had had one simple thought:

_Lucky jerk._

"Thank you, Beast Boy. I would like to introduce… Wonder Girl."

The two stepped aside, and a blonde girl about Bart's height stepped though, wearing something similar too, but not quite the same as, Wonder Woman's outfit.

_All hormones to the battle stations…_

"Hi," she said, offering a cheery wave. "Nice to meet you."

She shook hands with Robin, who simply nodded in greeting. She then moved over to Bart, who numbly offered his hand. She shook his hand while she quickly and almost imperceptibly looked him up and down before moving on to Speedy.

Kid Flash grinned goofily. _This_ was a part of the job he could get used to.

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Mari smiled politely at the waiter as he handed her the drink. She took a sip and sat back in the sun bed, delighting in the looks she knew she was getting from the various people around the pool. The looks were all for _very _different reasons, of course. Some were looking because she was a smoking hot supermodel. Others were looking because she was the superhero known as Vixen.

But it was mostly the smoking hot thing.

She felt a shadow over her, and looked up to see a waiter holding a portable phone.

"Phone call for you, ma'am."

"Who is it?" she asked, opening one eye and peering over her sunglasses.

"A Mr John Stewart, ma'am."

Vixen smiled and slowly swiped the phone from his grasp.

"Thank you."

The waiter took a bow and left.

"Hey boo."

"_Hey. How's the photo shoot going?"_

Vixen shrugged, though she knew John wouldn't be able to see it. "The same as usual. Exotic locale, fine wines, delicious cocktails… the usual, boring things."

She could practically hear the smile on the other end. _"I feel for you."_

A grin threatened to play across her lips, but she settled for a confident smirk. "You seem quite chipper. I take it hanging around with your friend worked out for the best?"

"…_you could say that."_

She heard someone shouting in the background.

"Where are you now?"

"_At his apartment. We're watching a game," _he said, his tone of voice like a child showing off a new skill.

Vixen's smile widened as she reached for her drink. "By the way… just who is this mystery friend of yours?" she asked, bringing the straw to her lips and taking a sip.

Silence.

"_Flash."_

She nearly spit it out.

"Flash? That's your 'friend who always helps you to relax'?"

"_Well… 'relax' might be a- oh **come on! **There is **no **way that isn't a foul!"_

Mari jerked her head back at the sudden outburst, and proceeded to tentatively place her ear on the receiver once again. She heard laughing and some incomprehensible talking coming from the background.

"_Oh yeah? I don't suppose you'd like to bet on that?"_ John retorted.

"John?"

"_Hm? Oh, sorry baby. Where was I?"_

"You were telling me about relaxing with the _Flash_, of all people."

"_Right. Well, I wouldn't say 'relax' exactly, but more of a- **what? **That's such a crock!" _

"John!"

"_What? Oh, sorry."_

"Maybe I should leave to your game."

"_Uh, yeah, okay. I was just calling to tell you I won't be able to pick you up from the airport on Thursday."_

"Why?"

"_There's a League poker night, and I need to show these amateurs how it's done."_

"Boo – you've never played poker."

"_That's right, baby. I'm going to win," _John said a little too loud, as though trying to imply that Mari had said something quite different.

"Well… glad that you're enjoying yourself, John."

"…_Uh huh…"_

"Don't worry about picking me up; I can make my own way home."

"…_Uh huh…"_

Mari paused. "I'll just go straight to the motel and meet up with Superman. He has the most chiselled abs…"

"…_Uh huh…"_

Vixen sighed. "Goodbye, John."

"_Uh huh… I mean… uh… wait, Superman did what?"_

The smirk spread itself across Mari's lips once again. "I'll see you after the poker game, boo."

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John hadn't been in many mansions. In fact, he had only been in one; Wayne Manor. And Ollie's estate was a very different kind of mansion. Posters littered the walls, all of them vintage originals framed in the finest protective glass.

The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Beatles… those were just some of the few posters that were on the walls of the staircase, and John almost started when he saw a life size mannequin of Errol Flynn as Robin Hood on the landing. It was in a glass case, of course, but it was still quite disarming.

Wally, meanwhile, was looking from wall to wall in awe; he was in a world of items that he no doubt found cool or amazing in some way. John was slightly perplexed at this, seeing as how Wally had been here before. The speedster didn't see the Errol Flynn mannequin until he was on the landing, at which point said mannequin was staring at him, grinning courageously.

"GAH!" he yelped, his voice going up to a much higher pitch than John thought possible. The Green Lantern couldn't help but smile.

A door on their right opened, and Ollie stepped through, his face seeming strangely incomplete without his Green Arrow mask.

"C'mon in fellas. Don't mind Errol there," he said, a grin showing beneath his goatee.

Wally scowled and pointed at the mannequin. "Did you move him? 'Cause you know he scares the crap out of me."

"Would I do that?" Ollie replied, his voice rife with mock anguish.

Wally grumbled incoherently as he entered the room, heading straight for the snacks.

"You'd better have a lot of Twinkie…" Wally said as he reached the table, quickly grabbing pretzels and chips from the bowls.

"Wally! Wally, that's what the plates are…" Ollie put a hand over his face. "…for…"

John smiled and pulled up a chair, nodding a greeting to the other players. Black Canary was sat with Wildcat on her left, and an empty seat on her right and on John's left, presumable for Ollie. Dr Fate was sat a chair away from John on his right shuffling cards, a dealer's cap on his golden helmet. John cocked an eyebrow at the wizard, wondering whether he should laugh or not.

"Um… hey."

Ollie sat down at the table next to Black Canary and looked over at John straight faced.

"Something wrong, John?"

"Uh… no."

"You're sure?"

"Oh, yeah. Nothing wrong."

"Good. Because for a moment there I thought you were laughing a Dr Fate's-" Ollie burst out laughing, "…cap…" he managed, before continuing laughing.

Dr Fate paused before removing the cap. With a brief swirling of pinkish purple energy, Dr Fate was now dressed in a black turtle neck sweater and brown pants, his helmet removed. He shrugged.

"My attempt at humour."

John crossed his arms and grumbled something incomprehensible as Wally sat down, carrying a plateful of snacks. He looked around the table before settling on Ollie.

"What? Was it the cap thing?"

Ollie, his shoulders shaking in silent laughter, just nodded. Wally leaned over to John.

"Don't worry; they got me with that, too."

That was not want John wanted to hear, because his grimace deepened. "Can we just play the game?"

Ollie put up his hands. "Okay, okay… calm down, Johnny. Bad kitty." The billionaire archer once again burst out laughing, and John shot an accusatory glare at Wally.

"What? I didn't tell him. True, I may have _mentioned _that we saved a cat from a tree," Wally said, fighting the smirk that was pulling its way on to his face. "… but I didn't say anytheeheehee…"

The two laughed away at John's expense, while Black Canary just looked at him apologetically. Dr Fate continued to shuffle the cards, having put the cap back on, while Wildcat was also fighting a smile, although with more success than Wally or Ollie had.

The hulking ex-boxer cleared his throat. "Could we get on with the game?"

Ollie nodded, wiping away a tear. "Yeah, yeah, yeah… okay…" he said, trying to catch his breath. Wally also brought down his laughter, and the two looked over at each other, red in the face from laughing too much.

As soon as they made eye contact, they both burst out laughing again. After a few more minutes (and a threatening glare from Canary), the two had calmed down.

"Okay," Ollie said, clearing his throat and cricking his neck. "Let's get this game started."

Dr Fate nodded and began dealing.

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Ollie thinned his eyes as he looked across the table at the unreadable Dr Fate. The wizard's expression hadn't changed for the entire game.

"So… how's Inza?" Ollie asked, throwing some chips on the table. "Fifty."

"She is well, thank you. How is Dinah?"

Wally pursed his lips and hissed. "Oh ho ho…"

Canary seemed unfazed by her usage as poker banter. John surmised that Ollie must have done it before.

Fate threw some chips on the table. "I will see your fifty…" he threw some more chips on the table. "And raise you fifty."

Wildcat whistled. John simply watched the two duelling gamers before him. He had personally never seen the appeal of poker; at least, until now. True, he wasn't much of a player, and after tonight, he would be more than happy to admit it, but it was worth it to see those who were good players going at it.

Wally leaned over and spoke to John out of the corner of his mouth.

"I'll bet you ten bucks Fate's goin' down."

"Oh, you're on."

Ollie smiled at the little exchange. Black Canary leaned forward to address the two.

"I'll take some of that. I think Ollie's bluffing."

The archer looked over at her accusingly, and a hint of a smile played across Dr Fate's face before disappearing again.

"We'll just see who's bluffing, missy."

Ollie pushed forward his entire stack of chips. "There. Match that."

Fate matched it.

Ollie's smirk remained intact, though John could have sworn he saw something disappear from his eyes. Keeping his eyes on the wizard in front of him, he lay down his cards.

John cocked an eyebrow. From what he knew of the game, Ollie had a pretty impressive hand. His expression of focus remaining, Dr Fate lay down his cards, and Ollie's smirk intensified.

John's head hung down as both Wally and Ollie performed their own separate and elaborate victory dances. Canary looked up at the two with a bored expression, resting her head on her hand.

The two high fived before sitting back down. Ollie rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"Who wants to play again?"

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Impossibly, Fate and Ollie had been ejected from the game early on. Ollie quietly mumbled something about showing Fate some music, and had left, taking the good doctor with him.

Wally tossed two chips onto the pile. "I'm in. Hey, just what is Dr Fate a doctor of? Could he like, prescribe me painkillers and stuff?"

John shot him a look. "Stop trying to change the subject. You're just nervous because you've got a bogus hand." The Lantern picked up some chips. "I'm in."

Black Canary shrugged. "Ah, let the kid talk. We all know who's going to win this game anyway," she said, smirking. "I'll see that…" she said slowly, before throwing some more chips on the pile, "and raise you twenty."

Wildcat groaned. "I'm out," he said, throwing his cards face up on the table. "I'm gonna see what Fate and Arrow are up to."

He pushed back his chair and left the room.

"Looks like it's just you and me, boys."

John didn't like the sound of that, but kept his face stony. He had a pretty good poker face, if he said so himself.

"You turn, Wally," he said, keeping his eyes on the blonde heroine before him.

"Right, right…" he said, quickly counting the value of the chips before him. "I'll see your twenty…" He grinned. "…and raise you thirty."

While his outward appearance remained the same, John's jaw dropped mentally. Black Canary was nowhere near as subtle.

"Thirty?"

"Yeah. Why?" His grin changed into a smirk. "Is that a problem?"

"No," Canary replied slyly, her surprised appearance giving way to sultry seduction. "I was just surprised with you pulling such a… _big _move."

Wally and John cocked a collective eyebrow at the emphasis on 'big'.

John silently lay down the appropriate number of chips, and then looked over at Canary, who just smirked.

"I'll see your thirty… and raise you twenty."

Wally whistled, impressed. "Too rich for my blood," he set down the cards. "I'm out."

Canary looked over at John as the other three players re-entered the room. "Just you and me, then."

"Looks like it."

"You ready to cave in?"

"Not quite. I've got enough to take you down."

"Is that right?"

John nodded, a smirk on his face. Wally tried to peer over John's shoulder at his cards, but he had them too well hidden.

"Dude, c'mon. I'm trying to help."

"Help? Like two games ago when you shouted out I had four aces?"

"Well… I was surprised."

Ollie coughed over a laugh as he sat down, followed by the others. Wally looked over at Fate.

"So, Doc. You hear anything interesting?"

Fate's expression was as impassive as always. "Green Arrow's collection is impressive, although I do think he could have more selection."

Ollie threw his arms up in the air. "_Just _because I don't have every Pink Floyd album on the face of the Earth, doesn't mean my music collection is lacking. I have the important ones!"

Dr Fate's expression seemed to become harder for a moment. "_All _of the Pink Floyd albums are important."

Canary smirked, her eyes still locked with her opponents. "How about we just put all of our chips on the table? Whoever loses, loses."

"Fine by me."

The two shoved their chips into the middle of the table, and lay down their cards. The occupants of the table gasped, and Ollie mock fainted, putting the back of his hand to his forehead.

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"A tie? I mean, c'mon, how crazy is that?"

John sighed, his arms crossed. "Yes, Wally, I realise that it was a very important moment in you life, but could we please drop it now?"

Flash put up his hands in surrender. "I'm sorry. But a tie! Wow! That just… hasn't happened before."

"Really?"

"No. That's a new thing. Everybody will remember the night when John Stewart tied with Dinah Lance on poker night!" he said grandly, pointing to some point on the horizon.

"Wally? What're you pointing at?"

The two turned to see Bart behind them, stood with Cyborg. Wally quickly withdrew his arm and made his way over to his cousin.

"Hey, buddy. I hear Dr Alchemy's escaped from prison again."

Bart groaned. "Oh, c'mon. Again? I don't like fighting that guy. He stinks."

John cocked an eyebrow. "But if he stinks, you should be able to take him down easily, right?"

Wally looked over at him. "No, he actually, _really _stinks. Like, smells bad."

Bart nodded. "_Really_ bad."

John paused. "Oh."

Flash grinned, pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "You wanna go?"

Bart nodded. "Yeah, sure."

"See you later, Cyborg. Thanks for looking after him."

"Actually, he hasn't been much trouble. But that's mostly because of Cassie," he said, smirking before he turned around, waving over his shoulder. "Bye, Bart," he sang, all too aware of the glare that Bart was sending his way.

"So," Wally began, smirking as he looked down at Bart, hands on his hips. "Cassie, huh?"

"Yeah," Bart mumbled, and John smiled.

"You like her, huh?"

"No! Well, yeah, she's okay."

"'Okay', huh? Ah, I remember when I used to say that about Ra-" Wally stopped short as he saw the curious looks on John and Bart's faces, "…Ra…Ra…Ro…Ro…Berta… Roberta! I used to say that about Roberta."

John and Bart looked at each other, then back to Wally. "Who's Roberta?" they asked simultaneously.

"Just… a girl… I knew- anyway, we were talking about _your _romances, not mine."

"She's not a romance."

"Right," Wally said slowly, smirking.

"She's not! Look, I'm not gonna talk about this anymore," Bart said, his nose turned up. He sped down the side of the Tower and across the water.

John smiled and looked over at Wally, who was standing with his hands on his hips in the usual Flash pose.

"You've got another mission, huh?" he said, keeping his gaze forward at the horizon.

John shrugged, also keeping his eyes forward. "Vacation's over."

"You're still gonna…"

"Yeah, I am."

"Good. 'Cause… y'know…"

"Yeah."

"See you later."

"Next Thursday. Fate's place."

Wally grinned. "Cool."

And with that, he took off down the side of the Tower, pursuing his young ward across the waves and to Central City.

John put his hand to his earpiece. "Lantern to Watchtower. One for pickup."

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THE END.

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(A/N: And there we go. I had tremendous fun writing the poker game, so I hope you enjoyed reading it.

I'd like to thank the following for their reviews:

Hhgbh: Dude, thanks for your ever-vigilance in reviewing every chapter. It's greatly appreciated and it really helps when one knows they've got a regular audience.

Kj: Sorry I didn't work Nightwing into this story, but he will be in my next JL story (shameless plug) 'Gut Feeling', along with another Titan that you mentioned…

ChunkyMunky241: Thank you for your reviews– they helped to shape Bart into a more solid character. I raise my Superman coffee mug to you! (Silently hopes for update on 'Many Times, Many Ways')

Me: Y'know, it's occurred to me that between this story and 'Connections', I've already done quite a bit of HG/GL stuff, only they've been separated for most of it. There'll be some John/Shayera interaction in my next story, so don't worry about that. Thanks for your reviews!

Mist: I'm glad you felt for John during this whole mess. He really didn't have any idea what was going on at all most of the time (which some might say is par for the course as far as John and Wally are concerned). Thanks for your reviews!

TouchofViolet: I love your stories, so a review from you really means bucket loads. Thanks for the review!

Crhblack: I was aiming for a simple friendship story between John and Wally, since I haven't seen much of that in the show or fan fiction recently (outside of slash, as you mentioned). I'm glad that others appreciated it as well. Thanks!

BlazeStryker: Your suggestions helped me figure out how to do Barry's back-story, so props to you!

Doza: I'm glad that you liked it. Your story 'Six Sharp Claws and a Mister Pointy' is absolutely awesome so far. I'm looking forward to when you incorporate Wally's morning dance, as well as the other DC characters. But, y'know, mostly the dancing thing.

Caliente: I'm glad you enjoyed Barry's appearance – I enjoyed putting him in, if only for the "omgwtf"? Factor that comes from him appearing.

Proponent of EVO: Thanks for your input – now please, please, PLEASE update 'Bored!' I freakin' love that story.

Artemis 85: I'm glad you enjoyed the story, and thanks for reviewing.

I looked pretty thoroughly, but if there's anyone I missed, then thank you also. And of course, thanks to those of you who review _this _chapter.

I'd also like to thank:

'Those Who Ride the Lightning' website – for info on the Top and Bart Allen.

Oh, and by the way… review!

"This is Super Chocolate Bear, saying good night Seattle, and good mental health.")


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